gegenschein
The gegenschein appears in this image as a bright spot on the diagonal band (running top left to lower right) above the Very Large Telescope. (The Andromeda Galaxy and Pleiades are prominent in the lower half of the image.)
Gegenschein is a faint round or oval spot of light, about 20° across, in the midnight sky near the ecliptic and opposite the Sun, best seen under clear, dark conditions in September and October. It is also called the counterglow (its meaning in German).
