Finally saw THe Milky Way

[nitram100]

Hey everyone,

Just thought i would share a wonderful experience i had last night. I finally saw the Milky Way after observing for 15 years!

I've lived in London most of my life, so seeing the Milky Way was out of the question, but i'm currently on holiday in Armagh, Northern Ireland where i was born.

I knew it was going to be dark, because on the way to my nans from the airport, there were no street lights, just dark fields and i said to myself "This is going to be good".

Arrived at my nans, stepped outside and looked up, the view was incredible, my jaw literally dropped and for the first time ever i could literally feel my eyes adapting to the dark by the second and more and more stars just kept appearing, there were tiny clusters everywhere visible to the naked eye! M42, M44 and M45 were ridiculously bright.

I looked at Cassiopeia because i knew that's where the milky way should be and there it was, a faint band of dust getting brighter by the second as i concentrated on it, it was a lot wider just beneath Cassiopeia, i couldn't believe it.

I'm short sighted and need glasses, yet i could still see the milky way without them. As i stared at the Milky Way i could almost feel where the earth was, just a tiny rock floating on the outside arm of this spiral galaxy, it was almost disorientating!

It's funny, because ten minutes under dark skies was far more enjoyable than owning a 10 inch Newt in London for 10 years!

Sorry for the ramble and wall of text, just had to share this with somebody

[Wobbly Bob]

I know that feeling, was very fortunate to be in the middle of nowhere on the border of Victoria and New South Wales in the middle of the night. What can I say, that Southern Sky was AWSOME.

[JamesK]

Wicked. That is how our skies should be all the time, I personally feel cheated out of something.

[Beyond_Vision]

A night to remember and thanks for sharing that moment with us

Regards

Kevin

[Brunty12345]

Congratz!

[matt c]

Sounds awesome nice one think i need to holiday somewhere dark like the austrailian outback or something

[Rusty Strings]

The milky way is a sight that everyone should be able to see at least once in their lifetime.

John

[Capricorn]

If you get to somewhere really dark, then finding Casseopia is difficult as there are simply so many stars that finding the constellations we know of is difficult if they have the milky way as a background. They just become another one (or 5) in a sea of thousands.