NASA has revealed a photo of a mysterious light in the sky over a road in the Teide National Park in the Canary Islands.
The space agency has featured the photo by photographer Ruslan Merzlyakov as its Astronomy Picture of the Day.
NASA wrote: “What's that strange light down the road? Dust orbiting the Sun.
“At certain times of the year, a band of sun-reflecting dust from the inner Solar System appears prominently just after sunset - or just before sunrise - and is called zodiacal light.”
Strangely, the origin of this dust remains unclear.
However, the leading hypothesis is that zodiacal dust originates mostly from faint Jupiter-family comets and slowly spirals into the sun.
NASA explained: “Recent analysis of dust emitted by Comet 67P, visited by ESA's robotic Rosetta spacecraft, bolster this hypothesis.”
The zodiacal light isn’t the only astronomical display in the stunning photo that eager sky-gazers can spot.
The scene also includes bright Regulus, alpha star of Leo, standing above centre, towards the left of the photo.
Meanwhile, the Beehive Star Cluster can be seen below centre, closer to the horizon.
