Milky Way from Earth How to see the Milky Way Milky Way pictures Light pollution map

How to see the Milky Way back

Can you see the Milky Way Galaxy from Earth at night with the naked eye?
Yes, in fact, the Milky Way Galaxy is one of the most interesting naked eye sights in the night
sky. How ever, it’s not bright, and it’s not alw ays w ell placed to be seen. So to see the Milky Way
Galaxy from Earth, you w ill have to meet the follow ing minimum requirements:
Finding a dark clear night sky w ith no moonlight are the key w ords here for a best view of the
Milky Way in the grand design (you can get an app that w ill show you the Moon Phases
Calendar);
No city lights, no headlights, basically as far as you can from any source of light pollution. You
w ill need to travel far from any city, to a w ild area or rural countryside. The best view ing site
w ould be from the middle of the ocean either northern hemisphere or southern hemisphere
being so far aw ay from the artificial city lights.
No telescopes, no binoculars, (just eyeglasses if you’re near sighted) and at least one eyeball.
TIP: Using binoculars can increase the view experience being able to see other galaxies as
Andromeda Galaxy (M31), nebulae and event comets.
Best atmospheric conditions, a misty sky w ouldn’t block it completely, nor w ould humidity. It
w ould make it not as sharp, but still visible.
Give your eyes at least 15-20 minutes to adapt to the darkness though. Your eyes w ill become
more sensitive to low light level.
A little bit of timing in late summer or w inter evenings in Northern Hemisphere.

We live in the Milky Way Galaxy, this means that every time w e gaze at the night sky w e are
looking at the Milky W ay Galaxy. More exactly the spiral arm closer to the galactic center one part
of the year and in the other part w e see the near edge of the spiral arm farther from the galactic
center. Due to nebula and dust clouds, w e can’t see the center of the Milky W ay (in visible light)
at any time.

What can i see in the Milky Way Galaxy from Earth?

The summer Milky Way w ill look brighter in the Northern Hemisphere. Most noticeably you
should be able to see the Great Rift in good dark skies. This dark lane in the Milky Way
Galaxy betw een Cygnus and Scutum is w here a string of dense interstellar clouds block the
view of more distant stars. At longer w avelengths in the infrared, light passes through these
clouds more easily and w e get a better view of the overall shape of our Galaxy, but there
are still enough clouds created a dark reddened lane through the middle of the Milky Way
Galaxy.

The tw o Magellanic Clouds irregular dw arf galaxies are visible from the Southern
Hemisphere w hich may be orbiting our Milky W ay Galaxy.
Milky Way Northern Hemisphere Milky Way Southern Hemisphere
Summer W inter Summer W inter
Date Time Date Time Date Time Date Time
Oct 14 8 PM Feb 10 8 PM Apr 8 8 PM Aug 28 8 PM
Sep 29 9 PM Jan 25 9 PM Mar 24 9 PM Aug 12 9 PM
Sep 14 10 PM Jan 10 10 PM Mar 9 10 PM Jul 28 10 PM
Aug 30 11 PM Dec 26 11 PM Feb 21 11 PM Jul 12 11 PM
Aug 15 12 AM Dec 12 12 AM Feb 5 12 AM Jun 27 12 AM
Jul 31 1 AM Nov 26 1 AM Jan 22 1 AM Jun 13 1 AM
Jul 16 2 AM Nov 11 2 AM Jan 7 2 AM May 29 2 AM