Why Can't I See the Milky Way in the City?

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SUMMARY

The inability to see the Milky Way in urban areas is primarily due to light pollution, which reduces the contrast between the stars and the background light, making it difficult to observe faint celestial objects. The Milky Way's galactic core, located in Sagittarius, is best viewed during summer nights in the northern hemisphere. Observers in cities like Washington DC and Sydney must travel significant distances to find dark skies suitable for viewing the Milky Way. Tools like Stellarium can simulate the night sky, providing an alternative for those unable to escape light pollution.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of light pollution and its effects on stargazing
  • Familiarity with the Milky Way's galactic structure
  • Knowledge of seasonal visibility of celestial objects
  • Basic skills in using astronomy software like Stellarium
NEXT STEPS
  • Research the best times to view the Milky Way in your location
  • Explore local astronomy clubs for dark sky events and star parties
  • Learn how to use Stellarium for virtual stargazing experiences
  • Investigate techniques for reducing light pollution in urban areas
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Astronomy enthusiasts, urban stargazers, astrophotographers, and anyone interested in understanding the impact of light pollution on celestial observations.

joeyjo100
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i was walking down the road, looking up at the stars and i wondered why i didn't see more, and specifically why i couldn't see the miky way stretching across.

i live in the city, so i guess the fainter stars will be blocked out by light pollution.

But surely the light from a billion stars in the galactic core have enough combined output to be seen, even if I'm a city dweller.

not sure i understand galactic structures well enough to answer this myself, please help!
 
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Wrong time of year to see the milky way. That's a summer night time target or you can wait until just before dawn to see it. You will need a fairly dark sky to see it.
 
Yes, the galactic core is located in Sagitarrius which is most easily viewed during summer in the northern hemisphere.
 
Just FYI, light pollutions doesn't "block" the light from the stars, it merely reduces the contrast between the background light and the stars. Sorry if you already knew this, but I wanted to make sure. Many people don't realize this.
 
Drakkith said:
Just FYI, light pollutions doesn't "block" the light from the stars, it merely reduces the contrast between the background light and the stars. Sorry if you already knew this, but I wanted to make sure. Many people don't realize this.
Yes, and the MW is a very low-contrast object to begin with. I am lucky to live in a region where if you go out during a clear summer night, the MW is unescapable. It is just there! 70-80 miles south of here, and you'd be lucky to even catch a glimpse of the core. Contrast is key with faint extended objects.
 
You might Google for your local astronomy club, someone there will surely help you find a reasonably nearby dark site and will probably invite you to their next star party.

I live in the Washington DC suburbs about nine miles west of Washington, there's no way I can see the Milky Way and it's not even easy to find a dark sky within 30 miles further west of my home.
 
though there are many many stars in the galactic bulge, it is also concealed by a great deal of gas and dust that sits on the plane of the galaxy, so you end up not seeing that many more stars in that direction than any other direction. It's part of why early astronomers of the 1800s believed at first that we were in the center of a large disk of stars, since it looked basically the same everywhere.
 
SHISHKABOB said:
though there are many many stars in the galactic bulge, it is also concealed by a great deal of gas and dust that sits on the plane of the galaxy, so you end up not seeing that many more stars in that direction than any other direction. It's part of why early astronomers of the 1800s believed at first that we were in the center of a large disk of stars, since it looked basically the same everywhere.
That's true. There is a lot of obscuring dust. We have to get into infrared and other wavelengths to peer through obscurations.
 
turbo said:
Yes, and the MW is a very low-contrast object to begin with. I am lucky to live in a region where if you go out during a clear summer night, the MW is unescapable. It is just there! 70-80 miles south of here, and you'd be lucky to even catch a glimpse of the core. Contrast is key with faint extended objects.

From my front yard I cannot make out any of the milky way. Or Andromeda. From my astrophotography site I can *barely* make out both of these naked eye. In fact, a few weeks ago a friend who images as well pointed the rising milky way out to me as he was leaving. I had to stop him and ask him what he was talking about because I couldn't see it until he took his arm and swept it across the sky. It was the first time I'd seen the milky way from our site.

I so wish I had been into astronomy when I was deployed to Diego Garcia, a little island in the Indian Ocean. I don't think I ever really looked up the whole 4 months I was there.
 
  • #10
Drakkith said:
From my front yard I cannot make out any of the milky way. Or Andromeda. From my astrophotography site I can *barely* make out both of these naked eye. In fact, a few weeks ago a friend who images as well pointed the rising milky way out to me as he was leaving. I had to stop him and ask him what he was talking about because I couldn't see it until he took his arm and swept it across the sky. It was the first time I'd seen the milky way from our site.

I so wish I had been into astronomy when I was deployed to Diego Garcia, a little island in the Indian Ocean. I don't think I ever really looked up the whole 4 months I was there.

oh jeez, I just looked up where that island is and man the sky must have been pretty good there!

My dad and I are going to the Sierra Nevada this summer to climb Mt. Whitney and I think I might be looking forward the night sky about as much as anything else on the trip. I had seen the night sky out camping once on a trip to Wyoming and... oh man it's beautiful.
 
  • #11
Yeah, I can't see the MW from home ( within the inner Sydney, Oz) suburbs either :(
I have to travel at least 30 to 40 km out of town to get to a dark enough sky
To think I grew up in a location where after 10 mins of dark adaption the MW was a wonderful sight across the sky

Dave
 
  • #12
I am lucky to live many thousands of feet above sea level in the northern hemisphere in a place with very, very little light pollution. :)

http://www.photographybydani.net/gallery/nature/cosmic-colours--banff-canada.html
an example of a photograph taken here
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • #14
Nice pics! I love that 2nd link where you can see the reflection of the stars in the water.
 
  • #15
Here is an innovative method of bringing the stars to us who are blinded by the light pollution. Go to this site, download the program, and set in your location. You'll see the Milky Way, planets in real time...plus lots more! It's not as good as reality, but it's a fine substitute.

http://www.stellarium.org/
 
  • #16
Bobbywhy said:
Here is an innovative method of bringing the stars to us who are blinded by the light pollution. Go to this site, download the program, and set in your location. You'll see the Milky Way, planets in real time...plus lots more! It's not as good as reality, but it's a fine substitute.

http://www.stellarium.org/

That's an excellent prog. :). Have been using it for some time and have got a number of friends using it too. It gets a lot of use with the laptop out by the scope.

Dave
 
  • #17
Drakkith said:
Nice pics! I love that 2nd link where you can see the reflection of the stars in the water.

http://hotels.glo-con.com/images/article/259_1.jpg

Here's the same place in the day time. :) For reference, the two images are facing opposite directions. In the day time photo in the bottom/left corner of the image, the lake thins out there. If you stand at the shoreline of it and turn the opposite direction that the photo is facing you'll see a large clump of rocks, that is the rock clump to the right hand side of the night time image with the aurora. I am blessed to live right beside this place. :) Note that the colour of that water is not doctored or altered, it is legitimately that colour. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_flour

EDIT: Sorry for going off topic there, couldn't resist.
 

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