He demonstrated that the flow extends at times completely across the
celestial dome, although it is relatively faint directly behind the
earth. On his return the government published a large volume of his
observations, in which he undertook to show that the phenomenon was
due to the reflection of sunlight from a ring of meteoric bodies
encircling the earth. But, after all, this elaborate investigation
settled nothing.
Prof. E. E. Barnard has more recently devoted much attention to the
Zodiacal Light, as well as to a strange attendant phenomenon called
the ``Gegenschein,'' or Counterglow, because it always appears at that
point in the sky which is exactly opposite the sun. The Gegenschein is
an extremely elusive phenomenon, suitable only for eyes that have been
specially trained to see it. Professor Newcomb has cautiously remarked
that
it is said that in that point of the heavens directly opposite the
sun there is an elliptical patch of light... This phenomenon is so
difficult to account for that its existence is sometimes doubted;
yet the testimony in its favor is difficult to set aside.
It certainly cannot be set aside at all since the observations of
Barnard. I recall an attempt to see it under his guidance during a
visit to Mount Hamilton, when he was occupied there with the Lick
telescope.
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