Galactic center

[Username556]

Can someone please explain to me what this part of the Milky Way will look like in a bortle 4 area? I’m really intrigued and interested to know what it’ll look like in person, I just don’t know what to expect. It’s visible now at March so I just need to wait for a clear morning to see it, I just really have no idea what to expect.

[Floater]

Sorry to have to be the one to say … but it will look nothing like that picture. Repeat: nothing like that picture.

Hopefully, you’ll see some stars.

Again, sorry. 😑

[saac]

I tried searching around for a photograph of what the Milky Way looks like to the naked eye. Guess what, it's really hard to find a decent one because cameras will tend to enhance what is seen compared to the naked eye view. Here is the best representation I could find - look at the first photograph on this page.  Now even that I would say is a little more than you would see with the naked eye - remove the colour and take the contrast down a little.  It would look like a very feint pale band reaching across the sky barely discernible but still there.  If your eyes are properly dark adapted you should be able to see that the band contains slightly more stars (albeit not bright points of light) than the general background.  You certainly will not detect any colour. 

https://blog.reflectioninapool.com/2016/03/01/photographing-the-milky-way/

Jim 

Edited March 5, 2022 by saac

[Same old newbie alert]

Bortle 4 in a new moon you will easily see the dark lanes of the milky way, especially around Cygnus area as it's higher up.. the closer to the horizon the thicker the atmosphere and  light pollution  .. I'm at bortle 5 at home and I can see it but it's far more prominent at bortle 4