Milky Way viewed from earth

[PSB]

Although I have never seen it in this country,&nbsp;when looking at the 'band' of the Milky Way in the sky, are you looking into the centre of the Galaxy or the outer arm, or do you see different views at different times of the year?&nbsp; I do appreciate that the Milky Way is the Galaxy and not just the bit that can be seen&nbsp;from earth. Thank you. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[nimbus]

Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Although I have never seen it in this country,&nbsp;when looking at the 'band' of the Milky Way in the sky, are you looking into the centre of the Galaxy or the outer arm, or do you see different views at different times of the year?&nbsp; I do appreciate that the Milky Way is the Galaxy and not just the bit that can be seen&nbsp;from earth. Thank you. <br /> Posted by PSB</DIV><br />One rotation of the sun around the milky way takes about 220 million years.&nbsp; This is more or less the overview of the sun's perspective of the rest of our galaxy. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[MeteorWayne]

<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Although I have never seen it in this country,&nbsp;when looking at the 'band' of the Milky Way in the sky, are you looking into the centre of the Galaxy or the outer arm, or do you see different views at different times of the year?&nbsp; I do appreciate that the Milky Way is the Galaxy and not just the bit that can be seen&nbsp;from earth. Thank you. <br />Posted by PSB</DIV><br /><br />Yes the&nbsp; views are different at different times of the year, The galactic center is in northwestern Sagittarius, reaching it's highest point (not very high in the northern hemisphere)&nbsp; about 12:40 AM Daylight time this time of year. It's about halfway between Jupiter and Antares, the brightest red star in the heart of Scorpio. </p><p>Looking outward is between Taurus and Gemini, very high in the sky at midnight in mid December, not far from the radiant of the Geminid meteor shower.</p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[PSB]

Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Yes the&nbsp; views are different at different times of the year, The galactic center is in northwestern Sagittarius, reaching it's highest point (not very high in the northern hemisphere)&nbsp; about 12:40 AM Daylight time this time of year. It's about halfway between Jupiter and Antares, the brightest red star in the heart of Scorpio. Looking outward is between Taurus and Gemini, very high in the sky at midnight in mid December, not far from the radiant of the Geminid meteor shower. <br />Posted by MeteorWayne</DIV><br /><br />Thanks for that, and here's hoping that I may get to see it one day. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[MeteorWayne]

Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Thanks for that, and here's hoping that I may get to see it one day. <br />Posted by PSB</DIV><br /><br />Where do you live that you have never seen the Milky Way? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[aretis]

<p><font size="3">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; What everyone has said here is true, but I just wanted to make sure you understood our answers, and we all understood exactly what you are asking. </font></p><p><font size="3">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; We do see different parts of the sky as the year progresses, and then we find ourselves back to our starting point one year later. (Assuming we watch the sky every night at the same time. If we stayed up all night, we'd see-- oh, I don't know, maybe 4/5 or 5/6 of the sky we can see at our latitude through out&nbsp;the whole year.) But our view from where we are within the Milky Way here on Earth doesn't change through out our lifetimes. The Milky Way that we may have viewed as a child will basically look and be the same when we turn 100. That's because it takes the Earth roughly a quarter of a million years to go all the way around the galactic center one time. Now if you could come back a hundred thousand years from now, all of the constellations we know today would be quite jumbled up. We might still be able to locate a lot of the stars we see today, if they are travelling along in similar orbits like ours that is, but our perspective within the Milky Way would have changed considerably. We would be roughly on the other side of the galaxy 180-ish degrees from where we are today. </font></p><p><font size="3">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; We actually can't see the center of the Milky Way in Sagittarius without the aid of wavelenths of light that our eyes can't pick up. What we see is the clouds of gas, dust and all the stars in front of the center. As said before, in the Continental United States, Sagittarius and the galactic Center is a bit low on the horizon at best. But if you traveled to the Southern Hemisphere, at times it might be overhead. </font></p><p><font size="3">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; I saw an Astronomy Show on the Discovery Channel where an American Astronomer got the opportunity to do just that. She was saying&nbsp; from THAT perspective down there, she finally got the impression that she was looking at a GIANT 3-D view of&nbsp;our galaxy from within it.&nbsp; In her sky, the Galactic Center was straight up! So she was not only looking at it with her eyes, but with her mind and her knowledge as well. It was quite interesting the way she described it!!!! </font></p><p><font size="3">This has nothing to do with your question, but I actually did a similar thing once when there was an alignment of the Moon, Venus, Jupiter and Mars. With my eyes working with my mind,&nbsp;I could see in 3-D. The Moon was closest, of course, and then came Venus. You could even imagine that it was showing the same crescentphase as the Moon. The Sun had just gone down, so I pictured the Sun coming next with Mars and then Jupiter farther from the Sun on the other side of their orbits. It was quite a revelation, especially when you thought of all the science that had to be understood over the last thousand years, to create that in your mind as you looked up at the sky! </font></p><p><font size="3">Well, I hope that fully answers your question!</font></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><font size="3">Aretis</font></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font size="4" color="#0000ff"><strong>Aretis</strong></font></p> </div>

 

[PSB]

Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Where do you live that you have never seen the Milky Way? <br />Posted by MeteorWayne</DIV><br /><br />I live in England, in&nbsp;the Midlands, which as the name suggests is in the middle of the country.&nbsp; <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[PSB]

Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Where do you live that you have never seen the Milky Way? <br />Posted by MeteorWayne</DIV><br /><br />That's also why I'm always trying to catch up with what you have all written the morning after the night before, so to speak!&nbsp; <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[Smersh]

<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>I live in England, in&nbsp;the Midlands, which as the name suggests is in the middle of the country.&nbsp; <br /> Posted by PSB</DIV></p><p>Hi PSB and welcome to space.com. <img src="http://sitelife.space.com/ver1.0/content/scripts/tinymce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-smile.gif" border="0" alt="Smile" title="Smile" /></p><p>I live in England too, and you should be able to see the Milky Way with no problem, providing you go to a good area for viewing, with no light pollution.&nbsp; I have not seen it properly for some years unfortunately, because of the light pollution, but a few years ago, when I was out camping in the countryside, I happened to look up in the sky, after I got up at about 4am, and it was like a scene from "2001" - amazing! </p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <h1 style="margin:0pt;font-size:12px">----------------------------------------------------- </h1><p><font color="#800000"><em>Lady Nancy Astor: "Winston, if you were my husband, I'd poison your tea."<br />Churchill: "Nancy, if you were my wife, I'd drink it."</em></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Website / forums </strong></font></p> </div>

 

[PSB]

Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Hi PSB and welcome to space.com. I live in England too, and you should be able to see the Milky Way with no problem, providing you go to a good area for viewing, with no light pollution.&nbsp; I have not seen it properly for some years unfortunately, because of the light pollution, but a few years ago, when I was out camping in the countryside, I happened to look up in the sky, after I got up at about 4am, and it was like a scene from "2001" - amazing! <br />Posted by Smersh</DIV><br /><br />Sadly, for reasons to numerous to mention, I am not really able to travel far to find such a place, and so for now, I shall just have to imagine and dream :-( <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[aretis]

<p><font size="3">PSB,</font></p><p><font size="3">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Well being in England, you are probably even farther north than most Americans, so Sagittarius and the Galactic Center would be even lower on your horizon. I used to live in the Los Angeles area, and we use&nbsp; to go out and see all 12 stars. Actually, it wasn't that bad. Since you can't travel much, if you ever have a electrical blackout, head outside! If it just happens to be a widespread black out, you might get lucky!!!!! I was in the Northridge Earthquake in 1994 and the only thing good about that was the sky. Unfortunately, the Milky Way was low on the horizon that morning, but Saturn looked like Jupiter.</font></p><p><font size="3">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Okay, I made a HUGE blunder on my last post. Sorry everybody: It takes the Earth about 200 <u>MILLION</u>&nbsp;years to go around the Milky Way once not 200,000 years. Oh well, that's JUST a factor of 1000!&nbsp; (Which is kind of like me saying&nbsp; I was born yesterday--&nbsp;AND REALLY MEAN IT!&nbsp Oops, please adjust the numbers accordingly.</font></p><p><font size="3">Thanks, Aretis</font></p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font size="4" color="#0000ff"><strong>Aretis</strong></font></p> </div>

 

[3488]

<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'><font color="#ff0000">Sadly, for reasons to numerous to mention, I am not really able to travel far to find such a place, and so for now, I shall just have to imagine and dream :-( <br /> Posted by PSB</font></DIV></p><p><font size="2"><strong>Where in the Midlands do you live? If you are reliant on Public Transport & say you live in the Birmingham / Wolverhampton area, it's not too difficult to get trains into the darker areas further west (though there are not many really dark locations in Britain these days), lets say in Shropshire or mid Wales.&nbsp; Accomodation would not be difficult to find (perhaps in August / September or over Christmas / New Year, when many people through out Britain are on holiday, it will be more difficult).</strong></font></p><p><font size="2"><strong><font color="#000000">If you can get down to the south coast of England or even my area, it is possible to see the galactic centre, though even from here, it is VERY low down, barely 16 degrees above the horizon @ culmination. From the Midlands, it will be even worse, just being that little bit further north.&nbsp;</font></strong></font></p><p>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'><font color="#ff0000">PSB,&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Well being in England, you are probably even farther north than most Americans, so Sagittarius and the Galactic Center would be even lower on your horizon. I used to live in the Los Angeles area, and we use&nbsp; to go out and see all 12 stars. Actually, it wasn't that bad. Since you can't travel much, if you ever have a electrical blackout, head outside! If it just happens to be a widespread black out, you might get lucky!!!!! I was in the Northridge Earthquake in 1994 and the only thing good about that was the sky. Unfortunately, the Milky Way was low on the horizon that morning, but Saturn looked like Jupiter.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Okay, I made a HUGE blunder on my last post. Sorry everybody: It takes the Earth about 200 MILLION&nbsp;years to go around the Milky Way once not 200,000 years. Oh well, that's JUST a factor of 1000!&nbsp; (Which is kind of like me saying&nbsp; I was born yesterday--&nbsp;AND REALLY MEAN IT!&nbsp Oops, please adjust the numbers accordingly.Thanks, Aretis <br /> Posted by aretis</font></DIV></p><p><font size="2"><strong>If my geography is correct, is not the USA / Canada border mostly along 48 degrees North?</strong></font></p><p><font size="2"><strong>If so than the entire contigous United States & Hawaii is further south than anywhere in Britain. Only much of Alaska extends further north than the UK. I am from Ashford, Kent, UK & am at 51 degrees 8' North, just over 3 deg North of the USA / Canadian border, & there is not much of the UK that sits further south. Even London sits slightly further north. The only areas further south are the south coast from Kent to Cornwall, the Isle of Wight & the Channel Islands.But even these are further north than the contigiuos United States. </strong></font></p><p><font size="2"><strong>Calgary in Alberta, Canada sits @ 51 degrees 4' centred only 4' south of my home town, but is 8 hours behind!!!!!!!!!!!</strong></font></p><p><font size="2"><strong>Andrew Brown.&nbsp;</strong></font></p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[PSB]

<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Where in the Midlands do you live? If you are reliant on Public Transport & say you live in the Birmingham / Wolverhampton area, it's not too difficult to get trains into the darker areas further west (though there are not many really dark locations in Britain these days), lets say in Shropshire or mid Wales.&nbsp; Accomodation would not be difficult to find (perhaps in August / September or over Christmas / New Year, when many people through out Britain are on holiday, it will be more difficult).If you can get down to the south coast of England or even my area, it is possible to see the galactic centre, though even from here, it is VERY low down, barely 16 degrees above the horizon @ culmination. From the Midlands, it will be even worse, just being that little bit further north.&nbsp;If my geography is correct, is not the USA / Canada border mostly along 48 degrees North?If so than the entire contigous United States & Hawaii is further south than anywhere in Britain. Only much of Alaska extends further north than the UK. I am from Ashford, Kent, UK & am at 51 degrees 8' North, just over 3 deg North of the USA / Canadian border, & there is not much of the UK that sits further south. Even London sits slightly further north. The only areas further south are the south coast from kent to Cornwall, the Isle of Wight & the Channel Islands.But even these are further north than the contigiuos United States. Calgary in Alberta, Canada sits @ 51 degrees 4' centred only 4' south of my home town, but is 8 hours behind!!!!!!!!!!!Andrew Brown.&nbsp; <br />Posted by 3488</DIV></p><p>Not a lack of transport, just a lack of time to get out!&nbsp; :-(&nbsp; I live in a village in Northamptonshire&nbsp;and we have very few dark nights here sadly.</p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[PSB]

Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Not a lack of transport, just a lack of time to get out!&nbsp; :-(&nbsp; I live in a village in Northamptonshire&nbsp;and we have very few dark nights here sadly. <br />Posted by PSB</DIV><br /><br />Not sure that last one read quite right?&nbsp; They were meant as two separate comments and not, because of lack of dark nights I don't go out!&nbsp; Hope that makes more sense <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[MeteorWayne]

<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Not sure that last one read quite right?&nbsp; They were meant as two separate comments and not, because of lack of dark nights I don't go out!&nbsp; Hope that makes more sense <br />Posted by PSB</DIV><br /><br />Well, the good newws is that the Persids are brighter than the averave meteor shower; in onther words there is a higher ratio of bright meteors to dim ones than most.</p><p>So even if rates are low due to bright skies, a number do get through and they can be enjoyed. Many years here in NJ, the skies are so hazy I can't record scientific data, but still get to see quite a few. Usually then I'll just wander through the public at the observatory and spread knowledge about meteor showers and the Perseids in particular.</p><p>And I recall one year where it was partly cloudy, with a 3D pattern of altocumulus clouds lit by the near full moon, with the meteors appearing behind them. It was quite beutiful and surreal; and it was fun to just sit back and enjoy it rather than being "on duty" </p><p>MW</p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[3488]

<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'><font color="#ff0000">Well, the good newws is that the Persids are brighter than the averave meteor shower; in onther words there is a higher ratio of bright meteors to dim ones than most.So even if rates are low due to bright skies, a number do get through and they can be enjoyed. Many years here in NJ, the skies are so hazy I can't record scientific data, but still get to see quite a few. Usually then I'll just wander through the public at the observatory and spread knowledge about meteor showers and the Perseids in particular.And I recall one year where it was partly cloudy, with a 3D pattern of altocumulus clouds lit by the near full moon, with the meteors appearing behind them. It was quite beutiful and surreal; and it was fun to just sit back and enjoy it rather than being "on duty" MW <br /> Posted by MeteorWayne</font></DIV></p><p><font size="2"><strong>It is Wayne, It is one of the joys for those who take the time & trouble to go & look. I too have seen some amazing stuff, like the Noctilucent Cloud display from here in June 2003, absolutely incredible, or the aurorae in October 2004, (despitre light pollution & also a freind took me into the Kent countryside between Ashford & Canterbury), that was just amazing, or the Lunar Rainbow in Wales (IIRC in 1991), or seeing Orion rise in the August predawn sky over the English Channel & the coast of France, etc. It is a great shame when people do not look.</strong></font></p><p><font size="2"><strong>Andrew Brown.&nbsp;</strong></font></p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[DrRocket]

<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Not sure that last one read quite right?&nbsp; They were meant as two separate comments and not, because of lack of dark nights I don't go out!&nbsp; Hope that makes more sense <br />Posted by PSB</DIV><br />This is not really a good substitute for the real thing, but if your machine can handle the software the WorldWide Telescope from Microsoft is a pretty good free virtual telescope that will show you the center of the Milky Way, and in fact provide a bit of a guided tour.</p><p>http://www.worldwidetelescope.org/</p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[PSB]

Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>This is not really a good substitute for the real thing, but if your machine can handle the software the WorldWide Telescope from Microsoft is a pretty good free virtual telescope that will show you the center of the Milky Way, and in fact provide a bit of a guided tour.http://www.worldwidetelescope.org/ <br />Posted by DrRocket</DIV><br /><br />WWT now installed and thoroughly enjoying all it has to offer - thanks Dr Rocket! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>