I saw the Milky Way for the first time!

[Episkey]

Tonight was amazing! I saw the Milky Way for the first time ever! I went out at 9:45pm with a lawn chair. I looked up for about 20 minutes for my eyes to get dark adapted. Then I challenged myself to find the faintest magnitude star I could see. After a few minutes of looking, I found a magnitude 5.3 star near Vega. Surprised, I kept looking up. Then I saw the faint glow of the spiral arm of our galaxy. It was incredible! It started at Deneb, around 40-45* high, and stretched across the southern sky above Altair. There were noticeably bright patches below Deneb, and to the right of Altair. I did my best blocking the nearby street light from entering my eyes. I stared up at it for a long time. When I was ready to call it a night because the moon was rising, I got up and saw the distinct glow of the Milky Way stretch across the sky from about 40* up. It was probably one of the clearest and best nights I have seen, and I was stunned that I could see the Milky Way from an orange zone in the suburbs.

[Kbramley]

It is amazing the first time you see it, the sheer number of stars just blows you away. I was lucky enough to be on the coast in Cumbria on a late summers evening a few years back, there was zero light pollution and it was totally clear and no moon at all, naturally I didnt have my scope, binoculars or camera but the Mk I eyeball was enough

[Starlight 1]

Its been over 40 years without seeing it any more now I live in a city , it was great back then to be 5 miles from anyone and 10 miles to a town and 25 miles to a city. The down side was no lighting or runing water and never went to shcool , but what a sky to look at just Stars every were you look.

[stevetynant]

Its stunning down here in cardigan I'm going to give it until september then try and get some photos never tried to do it before but worth a shot.

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[Charon]

I have almost zero light pollution here and the Milky Way is a sight to behold.

[Double Kick Drum]

Thanks for sharing.

The MW is tantalisingly right on the edge of my back garden limit on decent nights.

Not just a fine sight but also an indicator that it is worth doing an all-nighter!

Clear skies.

[Darkstar_1]

From my location usually the only milky way i see is from the corner shop :grin:

[WaveSoarer]

Thanks for sharing. I like seeing the darker patches when the conditions are just right.

[Mike5537]

The best place I've seen the milky way was when I hiked for 3 days into the pyranees, I camped by a lake with no unnatural light for about 20 miles, I must have been several thousand feet up too, saw an amazing sight, the stars were so bright we didnt need our torches! Billions of stars clear as day! I must go back one day!

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[Episkey]

I enjoy reading your guys' stories!

[Stu_2011]

Yosemite National Park last September was the last time seeing the Milky Way for me. It was STUNNING, no cloud or moon, it was real diamonds on black velvet stuff. So many stars that I could barely recognise the constellations!! The MW was a thick ribbon of stars running across the sky.

Thanks

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[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Congratulations on that! You have bagged your first galaxy!

[Saleratus]

May it be the first of many times!

[sunshine185]

I don't think the MW its visible from anywhere around me (Oldham)

[Cath]

Tonight was amazing! I saw the Milky Way for the first time ever!

Terrible isn't it !!! .. I mean the amount of years it's taken to get to see it for the first time. The things we're doing to poor Earth eh.

Nice though when you do get to see it isn't it

[JamesF]

It's a fantastic thing to see. I really want to get sorted to get some widefield images of it at some point.

James

[Skybrowser]

I can recall being sat on a beach at night on a tiny island in the Maldives. So many stars, I couldn't make out any constellations and the Milky Way was as good as any photo I've seen. Amazing.

[m_j_lyons]

It's always good to know that if you can see the MW there are dozens of star clusters and gas/dust clouds at your finger tips.

Happy hunting.

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[Pingster]

I went to Camber, UK in september and from the beach.... the milkyway arched from the horizon, over my head and dropped into the sea! It was the most amazing sight... as if the world was falling into the sea! Scanning thru it from where it dipped into the sea was a surreal experience. I bumped into Messier objects one after another. The beauty of Bins is because of theor low mag and low resolution.... your eyes are forced to tease out details and your mind 'filling' the visual gap. So even the simplest patches of fuzzies amazes.