Widefield Milky Way

[PeterStudz]

These were taken last week on holiday in Loutro - SW Crete, Greece. My daughter, who is now just 10, hasn’t seen the Milky Way and this was a chance that could not be missed.

Had to walk behind the village but as soon as we did the sky was stunning. I’ve never been to such a dark place and it was hard to know where to look. Bortle 2 according to Clear Outside, however, looking to the south & SW there’s nothing until you get to Africa. Only had about 1.5hrs before the moon made an appearance so spent most of the time looking at the views, spotting shooting starts and looking at objects in our binoculars. First time we’ve seen andromeda (even though it was low) with the naked eye. And never thought that the pipe nebula would be a binocular target. Mind, at the time I wasn’t even sure what it was.

Pictures taken quickly right at the end (so not to ruin night vision) as an afterthought using a cheap selfie phone tripod. iPhone 12 in night mode, single 30 sec exposure, minimal  basic editing.

 

[Alien 13]

Thats impressive, not yet tried my phone on the night sky but would be happy to get anything like that.

Alan

[glafnazur]

Sounds great, I remember the last time I experienced a really dark sky, so many stars, it was amazing but it took me ages to find the constellations I thought I knew so well  

[PeterStudz]

20 hours ago, glafnazur said:

Sounds great, I remember the last time I experienced a really dark sky, so many stars, it was amazing but it took me ages to find the constellations I thought I knew so well  

Exactly this! At this time of year the first thing I tend to look for is the Summer Triangle. Then from there the constellations. But to start with I struggled even with that. Jupiter was easy to spot but Saturn was lost in the great “noise” of stars.

[Shipmate]

This conversation has me worried.  I live in Australia and in the cities light pollution can be a problem.  I live near Perth in Western Australia and can see the Milky Way as much as I like.  I just hope we can get people on the planet to actually see a dark sky and demand the overuse of night time lighting for buildings and street lights be stopped.  There is an international organisation fighting for less light pollution,  

[PeterStudz]

@Shipmate it is a tad worrying, especially in parts of the UK. In order to get a proper dark sky I’d need to drive a long way. And then there’s the issue of British weather - I could get there and find it cloudy for the week - although that’s really something else.

And I have friends in their 50’s, mostly those who have lived and been brought up in London or it’s suburbs, who have never seen the Milky Way.