It never gets old

[Manok101]

Last night when the moon set I got my 3rd and perhaps best view of the milky way yet, and wether dim or in your face, it is always an amazing view. I think I may get a brief look tonight as well. I spend almost as much time gazing at it as I do through the scope.

[Andy_E]

Fantastic isnt it! its amazing that sometimes if we can draw our eyes away from an eyepiece there is a truly amazing sky up there!

[swamp thing]

I know what you mean it's a truly magnificent sight. I never tire of it either. It's one of the real benefits of getting to a dark sky, seeing the majestic glow of our own galaxy stretching from horizon to horizon. Wonderful!

[Mike73]

Its always been one of my favourite things to look at even before I started with astronomy.

In fact I don't think you can beat just sitting back with a cup of coffee and just relaxing using the old mk1 eyeball on the summer Milky Way.

[Manok101]

I've not yet been to a true dark site like where they have observatories and stuff but was wondering is it as impressive (the milky way) as it looks in pics? The view I had last night was basically just a well defined blob that you knew what it was. I can't wait till I get to see it in all it's glory.

[farunj]

You can literally see the density of stars in the milky way!! It's tremendous and magnificent!!

[JamesF]

I agree. Knowing what it is and then seeing it in a dark sky is wonderful.

James

[sologuitarist61]

Absolutely - a nice woolly jumper , a deck chair and a cup of coffee is all you really need, if you have a good dark site, to view the Milky Way.

I remember times when I was a youth in Sussex and walking the three miles home to my village that it was so dark that it was just stunning - I guess those days are gone now, what a shame.

[L8-Nite]

The good ol'e days are gone, but at least some of us were fortunate to experience them. Still, nowadays we are more mobile than were way back when, so its still possible to travel to dark areas and make a holiday of it.

[SeedyF]

I was in the maldives in April and If I woke up in the night I would just wander out and take a quick look. I got up at 3am to observe a meteor shower and spent more time staring in the opposite direction at the Milky Way, at a truly dark site like a Maldivian island it's jaw dropping. You're never going to see the detail a long exposure can pull out - the human eye just can't compete with a CCD chip but you can still see plenty of detail. Hopefully back to the Maldives again next year

[ggreene1]

I live outside of Chicago, so my house is not really what you would call a dark site. My brother lives 100 miles West of me and there are times that the Milky Way looks like a band of clouds at his location... It's truly stunning...

[swamp thing]

1341048018[/url'>' post='1561045']- the human eye just can't compete with a CCD chip but you can still see plenty of detail.

I think you have that round the wrong way. There is no way any camera can compete against the view with your own eye. The milky way is a thousand times nay infinitely better with your own eye than any mere picture. No picture can compete with standing at a dark sky site and seeing the milky way with your own eyes.

[sologuitarist61]

It is just such a shame that the kids of today are unlikely to ever see suck dark skies. When I lived in Truro we have a city wide power cut and the first thing I did was run ouside to see the sky, the second thing was to phone a friend and tell him to get his kids out there quickly. They are adults now, but still talk about what they saw that evening. Priceless :smiley:

[farunj]

I think you have that round the wrong way. There is no way any camera can compete against the view with your own eye. The milky way is a thousand times nay infinitely better with your own eye than any mere picture. No picture can compete with standing at a dark sky site and seeing the milky way with your own eyes.

Well u see the human eye can't bring out as much detail as a ccd or a cam. On the. Other hand, experiencing the milky way for yourself is an altogether different experience which no camera or ccd can hope to compete with!! It really stuns me how insignificant the earth is on the scale of things!!

[FarSide]

I must admit, being born in the age of street lamps really does ruin your perception of the nights sky. I've not seen the Milky Way being from a large town; hopefully one day.