Milky way rise time
When is Milky Way Season? – Dark Site Finder
I’ve been asked a lot about when exactly the milky way is visible. So I made this infographic to illustrate the progression of milky way season throughout the year. It is based on a latitude of 40° North. From locations further south the dates and times don’t vary significantly. Although the further south you are, the higher the galactic core will rise in the sky. No matter where you are in the world, the milky way goes behind the sun in December and the surrounding weeks so it will not be visible at that time.
From locations farther north the season varies because nights are much shorter in mid-summer. Below is the same infographic but based on a latitude of 50° North. This far north there are essentially two milky way seasons, interrupted by the weeks around the summer solstice in which the sky never gets dark enough. If you go much farther north then short nights become even more of a problem, and the core of the milky way won’t make it above the horizon at all.
Milky way season at 50° North
Start of Milky Way Season
Milky way season starts in February for the most part. But to see it this early it requires perfect conditions. A clean southern horizon, very dark skies, and a clear atmosphere are all necessary. But it becomes easier further into the spring as the milky way rises a little higher each night. From the start of the season until early May, the milky way will be at it’s highest point just before astronomical twilight begins and the night comes to an end. So light from the coming sunrise is the limiting factor. But starting in June, the milky way reaches it’s best visibility earlier in the night. When the galaxy first rises in the southeast, the central band is nearly parallel to the horizon, before the angle increases to 45°, and then higher relative to the horizon. It is possible to watch the milky way rise from the months of February through June.
The milky way doesn’t make it far above the horizon in February
Midsummer
From July onward, the galaxy can no longer be watched rising above the horizon.
Instead, it will already be up by the time the sky gets dark enough. It will reach it’s highest point around midnight in the southern sky. But the hours before and after midnight will allow for great viewing as well. As long as your nights are long enough, summer is the best time of year overall for seeing the milky way. Not to mention that the summer months often bring the most favorable weather. Shortly after the Sagittarius region reaches it’s highest point, the central band of the milky way will stand on it’s end perpendicular to the horizon at 90°.
The end of June is a great time to see the milky way
End of Milky Way Season
Starting in early-mid August, the milky way will no longer be at it’s highest point when astronomical twilight ends and the night begins. The lingering light from sunset will be the limiting factor. It will get slightly lower every night. When it sets in the southwest, the central band of the milky way will be about 120° relative to the horizon.
This angle means it tends to set below the horizon faster than it rises. The second half of milky way season is shorter than the first half. Just like the very beginning of the season, to see it at the very end requires perfect conditions. A clean southern horizon, very dark skies, and a clear atmosphere are all necessary to see the milky way in November.
The milky way sets just after midnight in early September
Moon Phases
About half the time the milky way is actually up at night, it will not be easy to see because the moon is too bright and washes it out. A full moon should always be avoided. And a new moon will always be the best time for viewing because it leaves the sky dark for the entire night. But in the spring, a first quarter moon is workable as well. Coming 7 days after a new moon, the first quarter moon will set around midnight, which leaves the early morning skies dark. In the late summer and fall, a last quarter (aka 3rd quarter) moon is preferable.
A last quarter moon comes 7 days before a new moon, and rises around midnight, which leaves the evening hours dark. During the summer months, it’s more important to view during a new (or slim crescent) moon because the nights are much shorter.
By carefully checking the time of moonset, I was able to capture the galaxy starting at 1AM
A Note About Times
As mentioned above, the times shown are based on a latitude of 40° north (Denver specifically). The times can be used as a rough estimate, but they can vary based on your latitude and whether you are located in the middle or edge of a time zone. Daylight Saving Time also affects the times that are shown on the infographic. Astronomical twilight marks the boundary between night and day. The lingering light from the sun may be too dim to see, but it shows up in pictures and can diminish the view of the milky way. In general astronomical twilight begins about 90 minutes before sunrise, and ends 90 minutes after sunset around spring and fall equinox.
But during the summer or winter solstice, twilight can last over 2 hours depending on your latitude. To find the exact astronomical twilight times, as well as moonrise and moonset information for your location, there are several sources listed below.
- Time And Date
- The Photographer Ephemeris – Web and Phone App
- Photopills – Phone App
Hopefully you found this information useful. Now that you know when to see the milky way, find a dark site, and get out there and see it for yourself!
Best Time to See the Milky Way + 2023 Milky Way Chart
Knowing when is the best time to see the Milky Way is key for planning your Milky Way photography sessions and for increasing your chances of success seeing and shooting our galaxy.
Generally speaking, the best time to see the Milky Way is during the Milky Way season, which goes from February to October, usually between 00:00 and 5:00, and on nights with a new moon.
This, however, will vary depending on the hemisphere, your latitude, and other factors like the moon phase.
The position of the Milky Way in the sky is also another important factor to consider in Milky Way photography, and this also changes depending on the location.
Throughout this article, we’ll dive into all the details to know when is the best time of year to see the Milky Way in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, when is the best time of day, and when is the best time of year to photograph the Milky Way according to its position in the sky.
But first, to check at a glance the best days of the year to see the Milky Way, you can download our 2022 Milky Way Calendar according to your location. I’ll explain how this Milky Way chart works below.
2022 Milky Way Calendar
Content- Milky Way season – When can you see the Milky Way
- Best time to see the Milky Way in the Northern Hemisphere
- Best time to see the Milky Way in the Southern Hemisphere
- Best time of night to see the Milky Way
- 2022 Milky Way Calendar
- Best time of year to photograph the Milky Way
GET THE CALENDAR WITH THE BEST DATES TO PHOTOGRAPH THE MILKY WAY IN 2022
You'll also receive our PDF guide to photographing the Milky Way!
Milky Way season – When can you see the Milky Way?The Milky Way is visible throughout the year all around the world.
However, “Milky Way season,” as it’s popularly known, is the time when the most spectacular region of our galaxy, the Galactic Center or “Galactic Bulge,” is visible in the sky.
You can still see our galaxy in the Milky Way off-season but bear in mind that, in this article, we’ll be talking about the best time to see the Milky Way when the Galactic Center is visible in the sky.
The Galactic Center of the Milky Way is technically known as “Galactic Bulge.” Milky Way in the Peruvian Andes.
You can see the Milky Way on clear nights with a new moon during the Milky Way season. However, when you can see the Milky Way depends on many factors, your latitude being the most important one, and what you should consider first.
*Note: You can check other important factors like light pollution in our article on the best places to see the Milky Way.
Below, you’ll find a breakdown of the best time to see the Milky Way on different latitudes and regions of our planet.
Since most of the population lives in the Northern Hemisphere, here we find the most popular areas to see and photograph the Milky Way.
In general, the best time to see the Milky Way in the Northern Hemisphere is from March to September, while the Milky way season goes from February to October.
This region of our planet includes territories at very different latitudes, which is the main factor to consider when planning when to see the Milky Way. For this reason, the best time of year to see the Milky Way in the UK is completely different from the best time to see the Milky Way in the Canary Islands, Spain (the further south you go, the longer the Milky Way season).
Image taken in Death Valley, USA, at the beginning of the Milky Way season in March
Below, you’ll find the best time of year to see the Milky Way in the Northern Hemisphere depending on your location.
Best time to see the Milky Way in North America
The best time to see the Milky Way in North America depends on your latitude:
- In Southern latitudes like the Southern states of the US or Mexico, the best time of year to see the Milky Way is from late March to late September, while the Milky Way season goes from early February to late October.
- In higher latitudes like most of the contiguous states of the US, the best time to see the Milky Way is from late March to late August, while the Milky Way season goes from late February to early October.
- In Northern latitudes like Canada, the best time to see the Milky Way is from Mid-March to Mid-May, whereas the Milky Way season goes from late February to late September with a break during the summer when there is no darkness.
Milky Way in Canada during the Canadian Milky Way season in May – Alberta
Best time of year to see the Milky Way in the UK
The UK is located at a considerably high latitude, so the timeframe for seeing the Milky Way is shorter compared to other regions in the Northern Hemisphere.
The best time of year to see the Milky Way in the UK is from Mid-March to Mid-May. However, the Milky Way can be visible for shorter periods of time through the UK Milky Way season from late February to late September.
Remember that, in high latitudes, there is no darkness during the summer, so you won’t be able to see the Milky Way in the UK during June and July.
Milky Way in the UK (Durdle Door) during the UK Milky Way season (Photo by Matty Whitton)
When to see the Milky Way in Southern Europe
In Southern Europe, we can find countries like Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Greece, which are usually the best places to see the Milky Way in Europe, considering the longer Milky Way season.
The best time of year to see the Milky Way in Southern Europe is from late March to late August, with the Milky Way season going from late February to late September.
Milky Way in Southern Europe at the end of June – Spain
Best time to see the Milky Way in the Southern HemisphereFewer people live in the Southern Hemisphere, but those who live there can enjoy better conditions with a longer Milky Way season and more areas away from light pollution.
Broadly speaking, the best time of year to see the Milky Way in the Southern Hemisphere is from late February to late October, while the Milky Way season goes from late January to late November.
best time to see the milky way in Australia
Australia is one of the most popular places to see the Milky Way in the Southern Hemisphere and one of the best places in the world for Milky Way photography.
The best time of year to see the Milky Way in Australia is from late February to late October.
However, you can also shoot the galaxy during the Australian Milky Way season from late January to late November.
Milky Way in the Southern Hemisphere taken in Australia in July
Best time of night to see the Milky WayOnce you know the best time of year, it’s time to check which is the best time of day to see the Milky Way.
Generally, the best time of day to see the Milky Way is between 00:00 and 5:00 on nights with a new moon during the Milky Way season.
However, even if you plan your session during the Milky Way season, there are other factors to consider that will be crucial to see the Milky Way, like the Milky Way visibility, the moon phase, and the sunrise/sunset.
Always plan to see the Milky Way according to the sunrise/sunset, the moon phase, and the Milky Way visibility.
Sunrise/Sunset
Darkness is the first key element you need to see the Milky Way.
This means that the best time of day to see the Milky Way will always be in the timeframe between sunset and sunrise.
This doesn’t mean that as soon as the sun goes down, you can see the Milky Way. Even if it’s in the sky, the Milky Way will be barely visible during blue hour, so you’ll have to wait at least until the end of the astronomical twilight to see all the details of the Milky Way.
Blue hour Milky Way taken during the Astronomical twilight – Banff, Canada
You can quickly check the sunrise and sunset time at your location here.
Moon Phase
The moonlight is the other key factor in finding the best time of night to see the Milky Way.
Checking this is very easy:
- Moon phase: While the moon can sometimes help illuminate the landscape, too much light coming from the moon will drastically reduce the Milky Way visibility. For me, 30% + of illumination coming from the moon is usually too much to see the Milky Way.
- Moonrise/Moonset: Even if there’s a full moon, this won’t affect your Milky Way visibility when this is below the horizon. When the light source coming from the moon is too harsh, don’t forget to check the time when the moon rises and sets.
Milky Way taken during a rising crescent moon. Utah, USA
You can check the moon phase in your location in a Moon Light world map like this.
Milky Way visibility
If you’re trying to see the Milky Way at night and with no moon or a new/crescent moon, the last factor to consider is the Milky Way visibility. The same as other astronomical objects, our galaxy is visible for a period of time in the sky that will change depending on the latitude and the season.
In most areas of our planet:
- From November to January: The Galactic Center of the Milky Way is not visible at all
- From February to June: The Milky Way is visible in the early morning
- From July to August: The Milky Way is visible during the middle of the night
- From September to October: The Milky Way is visible in the evening
The best way to check this is by using a Milky Way app like Photopills, where you can see the best hours to see the Milky Way at night according to your time and location.
Milky Way planning can be overwhelming. For that reason, I create Milky Way viewing calendars every year, where you can see at a glance the best time of the year to see the Milky Way according to your location.
2022 Milky Way Calendar
In this 2022 Milky Way Calendar, you’ll find:
- Milky Way hours
- Milky Way visibility
- Moon phase
- Moonrise and moonset
- Sunrise and sunset
- The angle between the Milky Way and the horizon
- Best days to see the Milky Way in 2022
Below you can check a video to learn how to use our Milky Way Calendars:
As you’ve seen throughout the article, the best time to see the Milky Way depends, to a great extent, on your location.
For that reason, we always create Milky Way calendars for 20 different regions around the world like the United States, the UK, Canada, Australia, Europe, etc.
You can download the 2022 Milky Way calendars for your location here:
GET THE CALENDAR WITH THE BEST DATES TO PHOTOGRAPH THE MILKY WAY IN 2022
You'll also receive our PDF guide to photographing the Milky Way!
Best time to photograph the Milky WayIf your plan is to photograph the Milky Way, the crucial element while planning the best time to photograph the Milky Way is the position of the Milky Way in the sky.
As we said earlier, the Milky Way core is visible during the Milky Way season. However, its location in the sky changes throughout the months and also depends on the location.
- In the Northern Hemisphere, the best time to photograph the Milky Way towards the southeast is at the start of the Milky way season (February to May). As the season progresses, the Milky Way will be visible in the Southern Skies (June to August), and finally towards the Southwest at the end of the Milky Way season (September to October).
- In the Southern Hemisphere, the best time to take Milky Way photos towards the Southeast and east is at the start of the Milky Way season (February to April). Later in the season, the Milky Way is visible in the Northern Skies (May to July), and finally towards the Northwest and West at the end of the Milky Way season (July to November).
Milky Way getting vertical in the sky towards the end of May – Utah, USA
Also, the position of the Milky Way in the sky changes from season to season, which is critical to planning the best Milky Way compositions and to photographing Milky Way panoramas.
Using the average Northern Hemisphere Milky way season as an example:
- In April and May, the Milky Way will be practically horizontal above the horizon, perfect for panoramas capturing the Milky Way bow.
- In June and July, the Milky Way will be horizontal at a higher elevation in the sky, and it will become more diagonal as the night progresses. This is usually the best time to photograph the Milky Way in different compositions.
- In August and September, the Milky Way will be increasingly vertical, ideal for shots where you want to highlight an element with the Milky Way.
Planning the position of the Milky Way in the sky is key. This image can only be taken during a few days in September when the Milky Way is vertical towards the Southwest – Utah, USA.
Conversely, the position of the Milky Way in the Southern Hemisphere will be different:
- From February to March, the Milky way will be diagonal with the galactic bulge closer to the horizon.
- From April to May, the Milky Way will be diagonal at the beginning of the night, and it’ll be higher in the sky with the galactic bulge moving towards the middle of the sky as the night progresses.
- From June to August, the Milky Way will be diagonal at the beginning of the night, vertical during the middle of the night, and low above the horizon at the end of the night.
- From September to October, the Milky Way will be vertical at the beginning of the night and will decrease in the sky until reaching a horizontal position.
Milky Way arch captured in the Peruvian Andes at the end of the season (late October)
If you are interested in learning and improving your photography, I highly recommend checking my Milky Way photography course as well as our astrophotography workshops & tours!
- 62 video lessons
- 23+ hours of content
- 80+ RAW & PSD files
- Unlimited support
- Free updates
- Access to a private group
Capture the Milky Way
The Ultimate Milky Way Course
ConclusionSeeing our galaxy involves many challenges, but one thing is certain: the key to seeing and photographing the Milky Way, apart from the right technique and Milky Way gear, is great planning.
Once you know the best places to see the Milky Way, knowing when to see the Milky Way is easy, as long as you understand the Milky Way season and how it changes depending on the time of the year and latitude.
You can use many websites and apps to check the Milky Way visibility, moon phases, and the time of the sunrise/sunset.
With these tools, you will be able to check the best time to see the Milky Way in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres according to your location. But if you want to save time during your research, I highly recommend downloading our Milky Way calendars, where you can see at a glance the best time of year to see the Milky Way.
Happy captures and clear skies!
GET THE CALENDAR WITH THE BEST DATES TO PHOTOGRAPH THE MILKY WAY IN 2022
You'll also receive our PDF guide to photographing the Milky Way!
New History of the Milky Way / Sudo Null IT News
Over the past two years, astronomers have rewritten the history of our Galaxy
A digital simulation of a large Milky Way-like galaxy colliding with a dwarf galaxy.
Astronomers believe that during the formation of the Milky Way, he participated in at least one such collision.
Representatives of the Khoisan peoples from Black Africa, observing the winding strip of stars and dust that separates the night sky, saw the coals of a fire in it. Polynesian sailors saw a cloud-eating shark in the sky. The ancient Greeks saw the flow of milk, and called this path "milky" - galaxias - from which the term "galaxy" later came from. nine0004
In the 20th century, astronomers discovered that our silvery river is just part of a huge island of stars, after which they wrote their own history of the origin of the Galaxy [when it became clear that the Milky Way is not the only galaxy, the word "Galaxy" with a capital letter was left as another proper name for the Milky Way / approx. per.]. In short, the Milky Way appeared about 14 billion years ago as a result of the merger of huge clouds of gas and dust under the influence of gravity. Over time, two characteristic structures appeared - first a huge spherical “halo”, and then a dense bright disk.
Billions of years passed, and our own solar system appeared inside the disk. And now, looking at the sky at night [in an area with relatively low light pollution / approx. trans.] we see spilled milk - or a disk stretching in the sky from the side of the rib. nine0008
But still, over the past two years, researchers have rewritten almost all the main chapters of the history of the Galaxy. What happened? They received better quality data.
On April 25, 2018, the European spacecraft Gaia produced a staggering amount of information about the sky. Most importantly, the data collected over the year by the device contained a detailed description of the movement of about a billion stars. In previous studies, the movement of only a few thousand was marked. This data revived the previously static galaxy. “Gaia has launched a new revolution,” said Federico Sestito, an astronomer at the Strasbourg Astronomical Observatory in France. nine0008
Astronomers rushed to download a dynamic map of the stars, after which a whole waterfall of discoveries appeared.
It has been found, for example, that some parts of the disk are impossibly old. Evidence has been found of the epic collisions that shaped the Milky Way's hot youth, as well as signs that the galaxy continues to mix up in unexpected ways to this day.
The Gaia satellite revolutionized the understanding of the Milky Way after its launch in December 2013
All these results together form a new history of the turbulent past of our Galaxy and its continuous development in the future. "Our understanding of the Milky Way has changed very quickly," said Michael Pietersen, an astronomer at the University of Edinburgh. “Now it is believed that the Milky Way is not a static object. Throughout its scope, everything is changing very quickly.”
Earliest stars
To look into the earliest days of the galaxy, astronomers look for the stars that existed at that time. They consisted only of hydrogen and helium, the most primordial materials in the universe.
Fortunately, the smallest stars of that generation also burn out much more slowly than others, so many still glow. nine0008
After decades of observation, researchers have compiled a catalog of 42 old-timers known as stars that are ultra-metal-poor ("metal" is what astronomers call anything heavier than helium). According to the standard history of the development of the Milky Way, these stars should hang out throughout the volume of the halo - the part of the Galaxy that appeared in the first place. And the disk—which would take about a billion years to spin up and flatten, according to calculations—must be populated by stars with heavier elements such as carbon or oxygen. nine0008
In late 2017, Sestito decided to study how this metal-poor swarm moves by writing a program that analyzes the results from Project Gaia. Perhaps their trajectories lying on the sphere could suggest the history of the origin of the halo.
He extracted information on the trajectories of 42 ancient stars from a complete set of data.
It turned out that most of them, as predicted, moved within the halo. However, some - about 1 out of every 4 - moved differently. They seemed to be stuck in the plane of the disk, the youngest section of the Milky Way. “What the hell,” Sestito wondered, although at that moment he used a slightly different word. - What is going on?" nine0008
Subsequent studies have confirmed that these stars have been in the disk for a long time, and are not just tourists passing through it. Based on two recent observations, Sestito and colleagues assembled a library of 5,000 metal-poor stars. A few dozen of them definitely turned out to be permanent residents of the disk. Another group of scientists combed through 500 more stars found during another observation and found that one in ten of them had orbits in the plane of the disk. A third group of scientists studied several stars of different metallicities (and therefore different ages) orbiting inside a flat disk. “It was something completely new,” said lead author Paola di Matteo, an astronomer at the Paris Observatory.
nine0008
How did these anachronisms get there? Sestito theorized that individual clumps of ancient gas somehow managed to escape all of the metals erupted by supernovae for long periods of time, after which deceptively old stars formed from this gas. Or the disk began to take shape at the same time as the halo - 1 billion years ahead of schedule.
To find out which of these assumptions was more likely, he contacted Tobias Back, a researcher at the Potsdam Astrophysical Institute in Germany who specializes in creating digital simulations of galaxies. In the past, such attempts have usually resulted in the halo forming first and the disk subsequently, as expected. However, these attempts had a relatively low resolution. nine0008
In these digital simulations, a galaxy similar to our own Milky Way formed and evolved over the course of 13.8 billion years, from the beginning of the universe to today. The left column shows the distribution of invisible dark matter.
Average - gas temperature (blue - cold areas, red - hot). On the right is the density of stars. The rows are responsible for the scale: the top row is a close view of the galactic disk. The middle one is a little further away, overlooking the halo. The lower one is a distant view showing the surroundings of the galaxy. nine0007
Buck increased the resolution of the simulations by about 10 times. Each run of such a simulation required significant computing resources. And although he had access to the supercomputer center. Leibniz in Germany, one simulation took about three months of computational time. And he repeated it six times.
Five out of six times the Milky Way doubled. In two of these simulations, the disk contained a significant amount of metal-poor stars.
Where did these ancient stars come from in the disk? These, simply put, were star immigrants. Some of them were born in clouds that appeared before the Milky Way. Then these stars from the clouds just ended up in such orbits that in the future will form part of the galactic disk.
Other stars come from dwarf galaxies that collided with the Milky Way and rose into the plane of the disk that was forming. nine0008
The results, published by the researchers in November 2020, suggest that classical models of galaxy formation were incomplete. Gas clouds really collapse into spherical halos. But stars coming in at the right angles can trigger disk formation at the same time. “The theorists weren’t wrong,” Buck said. “They just missed part of the big picture.”
Stormy youth
The difficulties didn't end there. Gaia helped uncover direct evidence of catastrophic impacts. Astronomers already assumed that the Milky Way had active life, but Gelmer Koppelman, who works at the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study, using data from Gaia, was able to find specific remnants of one of the largest mergers. nine0008
Koppelman recalls that Gaia's April 2018 data was published on a Wednesday, and the project's website was practically down due to a frenzied download race.
On Thursday, he processed the data, and by Friday he already knew that he had stumbled upon something big. In all directions, there were stars in great numbers, bouncing back and forth in the center of the Milky Way in a similar and strange way. This was evidence that they appeared in a dwarf galaxy. By Sunday, Koppelman and his team had a short research paper ready, and a more detailed analysis was ready by June. nine0008
Debris from galaxy collisions could be found anywhere. Up to half of the stars in the inner region of the 60,000 light-year halo (the halo itself has a radius of hundreds of thousands of light-years) could have come from this one collision. It could increase the total mass of the Milky Way by 10%. “That changes everything,” Koppelman said. “I expected that there would be a lot of different small objects.”
A simulation showing the formation and evolution of a Milky Way-like galaxy over 10 billion years. Many small, dwarf galaxies fall into the main disk, and often become part of it.
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The group named the colliding galaxy, Gaia Enceladus, after the Greek goddess Gaia and her son by Titan, Enceladus. Another team independently discovered the same galaxy around the same time, and named it "Sausage" after its shape on some orbital maps.
After the collision of the Milky Way and Gaia Enceladus, probably about 10 billion years ago, extensive damage spread across the fragile disk of the Milky Way. Astronomers argue about why the disk of our Galaxy consists, as it were, of two - a thin disk, and a thicker one, in which the stars revolving around the center of the Galaxy jump up and down. Today, di Matteo's research suggests that Gaia Enceladus simply ripped apart most of the disk, causing it to become thicker during the collision. “The first ancient disk formed quite quickly, and then, as we believe, Gaia Enceladus simply destroyed it,” Koppelman said. nine0008
In globular star clusters, hints of other mergers can also be found. Diederik Kruyssen, an astronomer at the University of Heidelberg in Germany, used galaxy simulations to train a neural network that carefully examined globular clusters.
He launched a network to study the age, composition and orbits of clusters. Based on the data obtained, the neural network was able to recreate the collisions that formed the galaxies. And then he applied this information to real data from the Milky Way. The program has reconstructed both known events such as the Gaia Enceladus collision and an older and more significant merger that a group of scientists dubbed the Kraken. nine0008
In August, Kruyssen's group published a list of mergers between the Milky Way and the dwarf galaxies that formed it. Scientists also predicted 10 more collisions that occurred in the past, the confirmation of which they hoped to receive from independent observers. “We haven’t found those ten collisions yet,” Kruyssen said, “but we will.”
All of these mergers have led some astronomers to believe that the halo may be composed almost entirely of immigrant stars. The models of the 60s and 70s predicted that most of the stars in the Milky Way would have formed in situ.
But over time, more and more stars turn out to be aliens. Probably, astronomers no longer need to assume that many, if any, stars were born in situ, di Matteo says. nine0008
Silently growing galaxy
The history of the Milky Way has been rather quiet lately, but newcomers continue to strive for it anyway. Astronomers from the southern hemisphere can see with the naked eye a couple of dwarf galaxies, the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. Astronomers have long considered this pair to be faithful companions of our Galaxy, something like the moons of the Milky Way.
But then several Hubble observations between 2006 and 2013 showed that they look more like meteorites flying towards us. Nitya Kallivayalil, an astronomer at the University of Virginia, has calculated that they are hurtling straight at us at about 300 km/s—almost twice as fast as previously thought. nine0008
Rise of the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds over Mount Bromo, an active volcano in Java Island National Park, Indonesia
high-velocity clouds must be very massive—probably 10 times heavier than previously thought.
"Surprise after surprise," Peñarrubia said. nine0008
Various groups have predicted that unexpectedly heavy dwarfs could drag pieces of the Milky Way along with them, and this year Peñarrubia teamed up with Petersen to find evidence of this.
The problem with studying the movement of galaxies is that the Milky Way is a furious blizzard of stars, and astronomers are trying to look out from one of the snowflakes. So Peñarrubia and Pietersen spent most of the quarantine figuring out how to neutralize the motions of the Earth and the Sun, as well as to average out the motion of the stellar halo so that its outer boundary could serve as a stationary background. nine0008
After calibrating the data in this way, they found that the Earth, the Sun, and the rest of the disk they are in, all tilt in the same direction. But they are moving not to the current location of the Large Magellanic Cloud, but to the place where it was a billion years ago (Petersen explained that the Galaxy is a clumsy beast with slow reflexes).
They recently detailed their findings in the journal Nature Astronomy.
The movement of the disk relative to the halo destroys the fundamental assumption that there is a balance in the Milky Way. It can twist and slide through space, but most astronomers assumed that after billions of years, the adult disk and halo formed a stable configuration. nine0008
Peñarrubia and Pietersen's analysis proves the falsity of this assumption. Even after 14 billion years, mergers continue to shape the overall shape of the galaxy. This is the latest change in our understanding of the processes going on in the giant milky stream hanging in our sky.
"Now we need a new model to describe the future and history of the Milky Way that we thought we already knew," Pietersen said.
How to photograph the Milky Way. Part 1: Planning
I have been photographing the night sky ever since my grandfather gave me my first 35mm DSLR. Modern digital cameras allow you to shoot such amazing things that a couple of decades ago I could only dream of! In this tutorial, I'll share some of the Milky Way photography tips and ideas that I teach as part of my night photography course.
Content
- 1 Twilight
- 2 Place
- 3 Season
- 4 Light pollution
- 5 Moon phases
- 6 Weather
- 7 Tide
Before going on a photo hunt, it would be a good idea to prepare and find out the best place and time to observe the Milky Way. First of all, there are a few concepts that need to be explained in order to help you know what time of night is dark enough for our chosen genre of photography.
NIKON D700 + 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 14mm, ISO 2500, 30/1, f/2.8
Twilight
Generally speaking, night is the period of time between sunset and sunrise, but of course, with the advent of night, it does not immediately become impenetrably dark, as if at the click of a switch button! There are transitional periods between day and night that are well known to all. I mean dusk. They can be morning or evening. Most photographers are familiar with the terms golden hour and blue hour. These are rather vague concepts, in fact, without any real scientific justification, but for photographers they are desirable times of day with beautiful light before, during and after sunrise or sunset.
We will attempt to define these concepts more precisely, but first let's look at them from a scientific point of view. nine0008
Twilight. Scheme
At dusk, three types can be distinguished, determined by the height of the sun in relation to the horizon: civil, navigational and astronomical twilight. Sunset and sunrise is the period when the sun is at an angle of 0° to the horizon. To see the sun at this time, you need to be at sea level and watch the sunrise (or sunset) over the ocean without any obstruction between you and the horizon. If you are located higher, for example, on a mountain, hill or other elevation, you will be able to see the sunrise earlier. And, accordingly, if you are in a lowland, you will see it later. nine0008
Civil twilight is the period when the sun is between 0° and -6° (ie 6° below the horizon). Nautical twilight is when the sun is between -6° to -12° relative to the horizon, and astronomical twilight is between -12° to -18°.
Evening twilight begins with civil twilight at sunset, continues with nautical twilight, and ends with astronomical twilight when the sun drops below -18° relative to the horizon.
It is from this moment that the real night comes, allowing you to observe the dark night sky. The night continues until dawn, when the reverse process of evening twilight begins: astronomical twilight will be replaced by navigational twilight, which will flow into civil. nine0008
Blue and Gold Hours can overlap several stages of twilight at once, but, simplifying, we can consider that Golden Hour is the period when the sun is between 6 ° above the horizon and -4 ° below the horizon, and Blue hour is from -4 ° to -6° beyond the horizon.
The Milky Way is best photographed during the darkest part of the night, between the end of astronomical dusk and the beginning of astronomical dawn. This period is bounded on both sides by nautical twilight and the Blue Hour, during which the brightest stars and planets can be photographed while the bulk of the Milky Way is washed out. nine0008
Blue hour and nautical twilight is my favorite night time to start time lapse photography for star trails and deep blue skies.
NIKON D700 + 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 15mm, ISO 800, 19/1, f/2.8
Location
The end of astronomical dusk and the beginning of dawn may vary depending on the time of year and the geographic location of your location. To find out the data about the end of twilight in the place where you are, you will need to resort to the help of special applications or an astronomical almanac. One of my favorite apps for this is PhotoPills for iPhone. This is a powerful program, which, unfortunately, I could not find a worthy analogue on Windows, Mac, Linux, or Android. However, these platforms have their own good apps, such as Photographer's Ephemeris for Android, Stellarium for Windows, Mac, and Linux. These are excellent tools for finding out the position in the sky of the constellations, planets, the Sun, the Moon, and the Milky Way with reference to a specific place and date. nine0008
Season
Due to the rotation of the Earth around its axis, the Milky Way changes its position and elevation above the horizon during the year.
Of course, you can see the Milky Way throughout the year, but we are interested in its galactic core - the center of our galaxy, which is the brightest and most beautiful part of the Milky Way, and that is what photographers strive to capture. For example, where I live in Maine, in the spring, the galactic core rises in azimuth 132° in the early morning hours until astronomical dawn. At this time, the Milky Way forms a beautiful low panorama in the sky. During the short summer nights it moves up and down and passes directly overhead around midnight or a little later, in azimuth from 165° to 212°. In autumn, the galactic center becomes visible immediately after astronomical twilight in azimuth from 206° to 228°. nine0008
Quite often, light pollution on the horizon makes it difficult to take a good picture of the Milky Way panorama. Therefore, when planning your survey, check the visibility of the Milky Way at your location using one of the programs above.
NIKON D700 + 14-24mm f/2.
8 @ 14mm, ISO 2500, 241/1, f/2.8
Light pollution
The degree of light pollution is one of the key factors in choosing a good shooting location. If you want to find really dark skies and get a clear picture of the Milky Way, you need to find a place with minimal light pollution. Various online resources and applications with light pollution maps, of which there are many on the Internet, can help with this. For example, I use the Dark Sky Finder map (it is relevant for US residents). Using these resources is quite simple: you just need to find the closest black or blue area on the map to your location. For residents of other countries of the world, the Dark Site Finder resource can be a good helper in finding places with minimal light pollution. nine0008
NIKON D700 + 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 14mm, ISO 2500, 30/1, f/2.8
Moon phases
The phases of the moon can significantly affect the ability to capture the Milky Way. It is best to shoot during a new moon, since the glow of even a quarter of the lunar disk washes out the image of the Milky Way.
The optimal time for shooting is easy to find using the already mentioned software, such as PhotoPills and Stellarium. Often a week before and a week after the new moon can be good for photographing the Milky Way - the Moon does not illuminate the sky all night, leaving several hours for shooting. In addition, the rising and setting of the moon looks very impressive on time-lapse videos, and the young month (no more than a quarter of the lunar disk), located behind you, can highlight objects in the foreground. nine0008
Proper white balance can result in a photo that looks like it was taken during daylight hours, but with visible stars in the sky. The sky will be quite blue, like during nautical twilight, which can help capture a very nice time lapse video or star trails with few stars and a lit foreground.
NIKON D700 + 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 14mm, ISO 2500, 32/1, f/2.8
Weather
Obviously, the weather is another important factor when planning a photo shoot.
Usually I plan the place and time for shooting the Milky Way for a few days or even a few months in advance, but the weather always remains the determining factor in whether the shooting takes place or not. To determine the current weather conditions and the state of the sky, the phases of the moon, the beginning and end of twilight, I use the Weather Underground service, in particular, its section on astronomy ( you can get into it by clicking on the link "Full Forecast" to the right of the weather forecast - approx. spp-photo.ru ). The weather forecast will help you figure out how clear the sky will be at the scheduled time and whether you can take clear photos of the Milky Way.
High tide
If you are shooting on the coast, you should always be aware of the tides, as they are potentially dangerous for both photography equipment and the photographer's life. You can lose track of time and get stuck in a place where you easily passed at low tide. Leaving the camera running at a shutter speed of 20 minutes or more, and returning to it, you can easily find it flooded by the onset of the tide.
