The Milky Way - as seen from Earth

[Scarlet Viper]

How do people see these things? I've never consciously looked up and thought, 'wow, look at that, it's the Milky Way'..
I live in the UK if anyone knows the next time a view like this is coming around?
https://www.theguardian.com/science...way-photographer-of-the-year-2022-in-pictures

 

[metatheurgist]

Unless you live in the boondocks most people can't see it now.

 

[varonica]

Unless you live in the boondocks most people can't see it now.

One of the advantages of living in a small town over 1200klms from the nearest city and 400klms from the nearest large town, we always have good night skies.

 

[Erei]

How do people see these things? I've never consciously looked up and thought, 'wow, look at that, it's the Milky Way'..
https://www.theguardian.com/science...way-photographer-of-the-year-2022-in-pictures

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With our eyes traditionally^^

This picture seems retouched though. And the exposure was too long so there is a lot of sun light going on.
This site provide quite accurate picture of Earth night sky :

And yes it's absolutely stunning and gorgeous. Those pictures hardly do them justice really.

To see such skies, you need a cloudless night (obviously), the less moon light as possible (none if possible), and to be far away from any light source (like cities).
Those lights greatly affect what you can see and they are called "light pollution".

As a kid, I lived in a rural area, and we used to climb some round hill a bit away from home (and everything) to watch the night sky in summer. It really make you feel small and insignificant.



Unfortunately, Odyssey skybox is nowhere near what you can see from earth (and we have an atmo). Due to very high contrast and the lack of stars (they only show actual star that exist in the game, and there is a limit to what they can show, apparently).
Horizon skybox "cheat" by having some fake fog that make it like there are more light source. Not a perfect solution either.


If you are insterested, with summer starting soon in the north hemisphere, you might consider doing some ! I suggest to buy a sky map (or use a laptop/whatever with one installed) to recognize the constellation and all that.

 

[Scarlet Viper]

I would happily live in that lavender field if the sky looked like that every night!
I looked at planets and stars through a telescope on an island in the Maldives when I was there years ago, and it was amazing what you could see with no light pollution.

 

[Northpin]

How do people see these things? I've never consciously looked up and thought, 'wow, look at that, it's the Milky Way'..
I live in the UK if anyone knows the next time a view like this is coming around?
https://www.theguardian.com/science...way-photographer-of-the-year-2022-in-pictures

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You dont SEE those things.
You photograph them using more or less specialized gear then you (more or less) artistically enhance the results with photo editing tools.
It's actually in the name (milky-way-photographer-of-the-year-2022-in-pictures)

 

[Frop]

Nice photoshops, everybody who lives in a city knows the night sky is an orange haze devoid of stars.

 

[HappyMoonMonkey]

You won't see it like this with the naked eye. This is a long exposure photograph. In exceptionally isolated areas away from light pollution it's better but I understand that it's also more visible in the southern hemisphere rather than northern

 

[Scarlet Viper]

I've seen a hazy white fog (milky way) but I was kind of hoping that it looked like that photo of the lavender field without any post processing too.

 

[Erei]

I've seen a hazy white fog (milky way) but I was kind of hoping that it looked like that photo of the lavender field without any post processing too.

I think it's post processed for that one. I don't remember the colors of the nebula and what not. From memory, the milky way is very white ish (thus the name I imagine).
The other are not, and are quite accurate to my memory.

 

[aRJay]

Well the photo was from the south of France which will bring the Milky Way more overhead which will make it clearer, then as the others have said it is a photo so going to be brighter and more colourful than by naked eye.

This link should let you find places where you can see the sights from.

Dark Sky Discovery Sites

We will help you find a spot that is ideal for your area from which to view the night sky.

www.darkskydiscovery.org.uk

 

[aRJay]

Nice photoshops, everybody who lives in a city knows the night sky is a orange haze devoid of stars.

According to my astronomy friends the sodium lighting that produces that orange is being phased out for whiter lights.

The reason that is unfortunate is the sodium light pollution was in a very narrow band of frequencies so a simple filter would block it and allow everything else to be seen.

 

[varonica]

The local lighthouse!

 

[Felix DiCestria]

How do people see these things? I've never consciously looked up and thought, 'wow, look at that, it's the Milky Way'..
I live in the UK if anyone knows the next time a view like this is coming around?
https://www.theguardian.com/science...way-photographer-of-the-year-2022-in-pictures

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Dark skies - National Parks

National Parks celebrate the amazing night’s sky with Dark Skies Festivals. Fun events for all the family and one of the highlights of the year.

www.nationalparks.uk

Basically you need 3 things; get away from cities and strong light sources, high pressure weather system, new moon.

 

[AkenBosch]

I've seen a hazy white fog (milky way) but I was kind of hoping that it looked like that photo of the lavender field without any post processing too.

Sadly no, not even close. That picture is likely a composite of a long exposure on the lavender field, and a processed and colour/contrast enhanced stack of even longer exposures for the sky. Those colours and deep sky objects and nebulas are actually there, but they are vastly brighter and more colourful than our eyes could ever see, even from the darkest of Chilean skies. To us primates, evolved to spot the silhouette of a predator in a dark cave well before the colours of its fur, the naked eye sky is all shades of grey with slight hints of green at best, but that doesn't make it any less marvelous to be honest. Especially when you are not used to see it everyday, the Milky Way truly is something powerful. A scope of moderately large aperture will be required to start noticing the red and purple hues on the brightest objects like the Orion nebula, but only long exposures will really bring up an explosion of colours.

(Also, most fainter objects you will only see when you are not directly looking at them. It's a common observation "technique" called "averted vision", and a byproduct of the above mentioned evolution: we are most sensible to light variations, and less to colours, on the peripheral area of our retinas, so it's easier to see the Andromeda galaxy, or a saber-tooth in the woods at midnight, out the corner of your eyes, than trying to stare directly at them)

According to my astronomy friends the sodium lighting that produces that orange is being phased out for whiter lights.

The reason that is unfortunate is the sodium light pollution was in a very narrow band of frequencies so a simple filter would block it and allow everything else to be seen.

That is mostly correct. Sodium filters weren't a miracle cure for a polluted sky, but could surely help bringing up otherwise hidden details. Modern white led lighting did its very best to ruin the night sky for good.

 

[Kzak]

From Earth, Barnard's Loop is three times bigger than the full moon, but it's weak in light and so we can't see it with the naked eye, thus the need for longer exposures to gather enough light for it to be visible.