Have you ever looked up at the night sky and seen the Milky Way? I've seen beautiful photos of star-filled skies but I have never seen that?
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answers:
Bill-M say: You need to get out of the City. Way out of the city. Clear Night, no clouds, No Moon. High up on top of a mountain or out in the desert.
OR the best place at Sea 50 miles out
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Luca say: Where I live in Italy it's rare to see it, too many lights, but whenever I go to the mountains during summer it's super easy to spot it.
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az_lender say: In the summer I live in Stonington, Maine, a small town. There are several cities of around 5000 people that are 20 to 40 miles away. I see the Milky Way any night that isn't cloudy.
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Clive say: Yes. But you need to be in the right kind of place.- well away from city lights so it's DARK. Not just night, REALLY dark.
When I've seen it, I was camping on the edge of a tiny village in rural France. That would be the ideal way to do it - I stuck my head out of the tent on a pillow, so I was flat on my back looking straight up, now I'm comfortable and I can happily wait 15 minutes for my eyes to really open up to the dark (with hopefully nobody blundering around with a flashlight trying to find their tent - any light at all will mean having to start again). Then you really will see the Milky Way as a band across the sky where the stars are closer together.
It's also the best way to see meteors. Do this and see a sudden streak across the sky that's gone almost before you notice - that's a meteor. When a meteor shower is due, you can expect to see more, but just about any night where it's properly dark should get you seeing at least one or two if you wait long enough.
That's the thing - you need DARKNESS and your eyes adapted to it. Then you can see the sky as ancient peoples saw it, when all they had for light at night was candles. It was the ancient Greeks who named the Milky Way - they thought of it as the goddess Hera's breast milk squirted across the sky.
Same reason big telescopes are put on mountains. High up, less atmosphere makes the stars less twinkly, and of course up there you get really dark nights.
So these photos are in fact quite hard to get - you need to be somewhere remote and to be able to take a time exposure so there is time for the light from all these stars to actually register on the film or the CCD.
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Jeffrey K say: Yes, it is beautiful. You must be in a very dark place with no city lights on a clear moonless night. Try to see it this summer. Its worth the effort.
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AndyF say: yes but not for many years. My rural area has grown with 'urban sprawl' and the light pollution it brings. It used to be bright and beautiful. Now you can barely see it even if you know exactly where to look,
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Chris Ancor say: You saw it. Just not all of it!
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Al say: Not the WHOLE Milky way, Just the edge of it looking toward the centre.
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Nyx say: Get the heck out of town!
I'm fortunate enough that I can drive for about an, and get to moderately dark skies. Another 2 hours, and it's really dark.
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billrussell42 say: yes, but only in northern NH on a clear night with no moon.
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Bill-M say: You need to get out of the City. Way out of the city. Clear Night, no clouds, No Moon. High up on top of a mountain or out in the desert.
OR the best place at Sea 50 miles out
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Tide say: Night sky is average looking,just lots of stars. It could have been better.
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CarolOklaNola say: Yes, I have, BUT it is increasingly rare for this to happen. Now that I have no vehicle if my ow. And there is relatively new storage facility less than half .ile south of me. I have to place myself very strategically at specific times of the year and the night to see the Sagittarius arm of the Milky Way Galaxy. It is now impossible to do that anywhere near New Orleans , including on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain.
Even if you do find a dark sky site, You need time, at least 15 minutes or more for your eyes to fully dark adapt. There is always some thing, including the Moon, that can interfere. Human eyes just do not work like the optics of a camera and a timed exposure photograph that mag have had the contrast increased..
It can be an awe inspiring overwhelming and some times very humiliating experience to see any part of the Milky Way Galaxy and really dark sky with great seeing, but it happens for fewer and fewer people.
I find it truly ironic that Cimmaron county
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Acetek say: yep many times.
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