The phenomenon brightens slowly with the fading of the twilight, and
soon distinctly assumes the shape of an elongated pyramid of pearly
light, leaning toward the south if the place of observation is in the
northern hemisphere. It does not impress the observer at all in the
same manner as the Milky Way; that looks far off and is clearly among
the stars, but the Zodiacal Light seems closer at hand, as if it were
something more intimately concerning the earth. To all it immediately
suggests a connection, also, with the sunken sun. If the night is
clear and the moon absent (and if you are in the country, for city
lights ruin the spectacles of the sky), you will be able to watch the
apparition for a long time. You will observe that the light is
brightest near the horizon, gradually fading as the pyramidal beam
mounts higher, but in favorable circumstances it may be traced nearly
to the meridian south of the zenith, where its apex at last vanishes
in the starlight. It continues visible during the evenings of March
and part of April, after which, ordinarily, it is seen no more, or if
seen is relatively faint and unimpressive. But when autumn comes it
appears again, this time not like a wraith hovering above the westward
tomb of the day-god, but rather like a spirit of the morning
announcing his reincarnation in the east.
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