It’s worth knowing how to find the Milky Way because capturing the night sky is one of the most popular types of night photography. You can take some stunning photos by photographing the bright stars that form the Milky Way. But it’s not always easy.
Finding the Milky Way can seem daunting if you don’t know how. There are also a lot of misconceptions about finding it in the night sky. This post aims to clear that up. Read on, and you’ll see that finding the Milky Way is much simpler than you think!
Where Is the Milky Way?
The Milky Way is everywhere when we look up at a clear night sky. It’s the galaxy that contains the Solar System. From Earth, it’s seen as a hazy form of stars that the naked eye can barely notice.
You can see the Milky Way all year, no matter where you are. It’s visible as long as the sky is clear and there’s minimal light pollution. The Milky Way also appears to move in the sky as the Earth rotates!
Have a look at these two images below. The first is shot at about 1:00 am. Compare it to the second image shot at about 4:30 am.
The location is almost the same, but you’ll notice that the Milky Way appears to have moved. (Depending on the time of year and where you are, this may or may not be apparent.)
How to Find the Milky Way at Night
You find the Milky Way in all its glory only when all three sky conditions below are met. As mentioned, it also depends on where you are and the time of year. But to see the Milky Way at night, you generally only need the following:
- A clear, cloudless sky
- No light pollution
- A moonless night
1. Pick a Night With a Clear Sky
Because you need a clear sky, looking for the Milky Way during the summer is best. Check the weather and try to go out at night when the sky is clear, and there are no clouds. Aim for less than 10% cloud cover.
To help you out, Clear Sky Chart is a good resource for astronomers. It tells you when the sky will be clear and dark at specific observing sites. This includes national parks across North America.
2. Aim for Minimal Light Pollution
Going to a dark location far from the city is important when looking for the Milky Way. Light pollution is caused by all the excessive artificial light in cities. This extra light reduces your ability to see stars.
Too much extra light washes out the details in the night sky. You may have to drive more than 150 miles from a big city until you reach a true dark sky. This distance is based on the Bortle Dark-Sky Scale. It measures the quality of astronomical observing conditions.
3. Plan for a Moonless Sky
The moon is brighter than you think and reduces the visible intensity of the Milky Way. If you are looking for the Milky Way on a night when the moon is shining bright, you won’t see it.
The sky has to be very dark to see the galaxy’s stars with your naked eye. The moon washes out the light of the stars, just like light pollution from cities does.
Understand Moon Phases for Best Shooting Times
We all know how to check the weather. And finding an area with very little light pollution is simple enough. But understanding the moon’s phases is a little more complicated. It’s important to find the best times to see the Milky Way.
For the best results, we want to photograph the Milky Way during “full darkness.” That’s when there’s no moon to wash out the stars. Full darkness is at its longest during the new moon and winter months.
The best times to see the Milky Way are during times of a new moon when the moon is completely hidden in the sky. You can also see the Milky Way a week before or after a new moon. But if the moon is in its first quarter or more, the moonlight will be too bright to see the Milky Way.
In the pictures below, you can see the duration of a new moon’s full darkness during spring in Iceland. It’s 12 hours and 46 minutes. Then, compare the same duration during the full moon. You’ll see the time has been reduced by 1 hour and 36 minutes.
For maximum photography time, take photos of the Milky Way during a new moon in the winter. As we’ll show you, those stars will disappear as soon as the astronomical dawn shows its face.
I track this using the Deluxe Moon and Sol apps (free and $4.99, screenshots below). You can read more about them in our article about apps for nighttime and Milky Way photography.
Where Is the Milky Way? FAQs
These are the most frequently asked questions related to “Where is the Milky Way?” We hope our answers help you prepare for your nighttime photoshoot.
What’s the Best Time of Night to See the Milky Way?
Different times at night also affect how you can see the Milky Way. So, it’s good to understand the various phases of the night. As the sun sets, the sky transitions into the golden hour and then the blue hour.
The exact sunset and sunrise are when the sun is zero degrees to the horizon. After sunset comes civil, then nautical, and lastly, astronomical twilight, when the sun is 18 degrees below the horizon. After this, the sky is the darkest it ever will be the whole night.
This time of transition, or twilight, can be divided into three phases. These phases are civil twilight, nautical twilight, and astronomical twilight. They depend on the angle of the sun (pictured below).
The best time to see the Milky Way is when it’s darkest, after astronomical twilight at dusk and before astronomical twilight at dawn. The longest duration is during the winter months.
When the sun begins to rise at dawn, the sky again goes through the three phases of twilight. But this time, it’s in reverse order. First comes astronomical, then nautical, and finally, civil twilight before sunrise.
What’s the Best Time of Year to See the Milky Way?
The best time of year to see the Milky Way is from March to September in the Northern Hemisphere (late spring to early autumn). Specifically, May, June, and July often offer the best views.
March to October (autumn and winter) is the best time in the Southern Hemisphere. April, May, June, and July are the best months.
You get the most interesting view of the Milky Way during these times. This is because of how the Earth spins around on its axis and how the angle changes in different seasons.
You may wonder, “If the Milky Way is the entire collection of stars, how does it change throughout the year?” It changes because the Milky Way has a core called the Galactic Center.
Its rotational center is surrounded by dust, gas, and stars. It’s the most intense and dramatic part of the Milky Way. So this is what you should aim to capture. It’s most prominent in the Northern Hemisphere in the late spring and early autumn, and winter in the Southern Hemisphere.
The most interesting angle of the Milky Way is when the Galactic Center is almost vertical to the horizon. This is when the stars look the brightest and the most intense.
The first photo below was taken in early April. You can see how the Milky Way is rising horizontally across the sky. Compare that to the second photo, taken in the summer. It’s almost vertical as it appears to rotate.
A trained eye can tell you when a photo was taken based on the position of the Milky Way. It starts horizontally in March in the Northern Hemisphere. It rotates 180 degrees through the months until September.
What Does the Milky Way Look Like?
The simplest answer is to look at the sky and see how it looks. Sure, we only have one perspective of the Milky Way, but it’s the only one that matters to us!
Scientists use radio waves, infrared, and ultraviolet wavelengths to create a more accurate view of the Milky Way. (What it looks like from the “outside.”) To help get a closer view of the Miky Way, check out the best telescopes for astrophotography.
How Do I Find the North Star?
Finding the North Star isn’t that hard. And there are a couple of ways of doing it. You can “cheat” by using an app. There are many astronomy apps, like the following:
- GoSkyWatch Planetarium for iOS ($3.99)
- Stellarium Mobile for iOS or Android
- SkyView for iOS ($2.99) or Android ($1.99)
After downloading the app, you only need to point your phone at the night sky. It will align the stars with your compass and tell you precisely what you’re looking at.
The other way, my favorite method, is to do it the old-fashioned way. You can try to find the North Star by looking for the group of stars known as the Big Dipper.
The Big Dipper stands out because it resembles a garden scoop with a long handle (at the bottom of the picture below). If you follow the far edge of the scoop upwards, it points to Polaris, also known as the North Star. It is the first point on the Little Dipper’s “handle.”
I prefer this method because it helps you better understand the night sky. And it also means you don’t have to rely on technology. Finding the North Star in the night sky is important because all other stars rotate around it.
How Do I Find the Celestial South Pole?
To find the South Celestial Pole (SCP), you must locate the point around which the stars in the southern celestial hemisphere appear to rotate. Unlike the North Celestial Pole, the SCP has no bright star nearby to serve as a visual guide. But there are a few ways you can locate it:
- Use the Southern Cross (Crux): If you’re in the southern hemisphere, you can use the Southern Cross constellation (Crux) as a guide to find the SCP. Draw an imaginary line through the two stars at the long end of the cross. Then, extend this line about 4.5 times the distance between these two stars. This imaginary point is close to the SCP.
- Use the Magellanic Clouds: These two small satellite galaxies of the Milky Way are visible from the southern hemisphere. Draw an imaginary line connecting the two Magellanic Clouds and extend this line outward. The SCP lies approximately halfway along this line, slightly closer to the larger Magellanic Cloud.
- Use an Astronomy App or Start Chart: Like finding the North Star, you can use an astronomy app or a star chart to help locate the SCP. They display the positions of the stars and constellations in the sky. Then, you can identify the general direction of the SCP based on the surrounding stars.
Conclusion: Where Is the Milky Way?
Where is the Milky Way tonight? Finding the Milky Way isn’t too tough if you know what you’re doing. All you need is a dark, clear sky unobstructed by clouds, light pollution, or the moon.
You can easily see the Milky Way if you know the best time of the year to go out and when the night sky is the darkest. As you’ve seen, many websites and apps help you figure this out. Now that you know how to find it, you can take some amazing Milky Way time-lapses!
