Hw do I find the Milky Way?

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MiqsPix

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I have been planning to shoot the Milky Way for some time now and done research on HOW to photograph it. But my ultimate question is how do you know where it will show for example between May September. How do you plan to get a good composition? Surely you can't just look up and see it?
 
MiqsPix said:
I have been planning to shoot the Milky Way for some time now and done research on HOW to photograph it. But my ultimate question is how do you know where it will show for example between May September. How do you plan to get a good composition?
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I suggest getting the photopills app, it easily pays for itself and will see you through all you milkway planning needs. plenty youtube videos showing you how to you use it
Example
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LYpmialP20

if you do not want to pay you can still plan using free apps like stellarium and google earth.
I use these too, especially google earth. it can show you how the milkyway looks at a certain location at a certain time (not taking light pollution into account of course)

MiqsPix said:
Surely you can't just look up and see it?
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if you can get to a pollution free night sky, you kind of can :)
 
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Look up. It's always there. Give your eyes 30 mins to get accustomed to the dark. It looks like a thin cloud. Failing that, just take a high iso 20 second long exposure and you'll see it.
 
What we see doesn't look like photos in that way it's rather like Northern Lights.
But you can see it almost like a band of thin cloud reaching up from horizon when you know what you are looking for in very clear sky and moonless night.
 
Stellarium on the App, desktop or Web. Or Photopills. I sort of prefer Stellarium personally as it shows a lot more.

Main core is about March - Sept. Rising in the south east and setting in the south west. Pre dawn in spring, post sunset into autumn.

You'll soon get used to where in the sky it is.

Plus there's much more to photograph than just the core anyway. Cygnus north west in winter. Plus your Milky Way core compositions can be used for Orion in the winter.
 
Another vote for Stellarium. You can either download the app or even simpler go to the web page in the link below.
Adjust the time and date using the tools at the bottom of the page and click and rotate the image shown to look N, S E or West.

https://stellarium-web.org
 
Thanks to (almost) everyone for the info. Something I have never done in all my years in photography.
 
LongLensPhotography said:
It should be pretty visible in target location or it is near enough a waste of time. but even then it is pretty pathetic compared to what it looks like in mid us
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Mid US is pretty good location from both light pollution and latitude perspective.
But Scotland can give you some really impressive skies too at night.
 
nandbytes said:
Mid US is pretty good location from both light pollution and latitude perspective.
But Scotland can give you some really impressive skies too at night.
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It is very dry and free from haze unlike anywhere in the UK. I think this is where the final big difference comes from. I got f all in Tenerife last time. It was hazy even at 2km
 
LongLensPhotography said:
It is very dry and free from haze unlike anywhere in the UK. I think this is where the final big difference comes from. I got f all in Tenerife last time. It was hazy even at 2km
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Yeah haze can be a real problem but for wide field photos they can also add to the atmosphere sometimes.
But sometimes feels like we are living in a swamp and you can't capture anything
2023-11-11_03-29-26.jpg
 
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nandbytes said:
Yeah haze can be a real problem but for wide field photos they can also add to the atmosphere sometimes.
But sometimes feels like we are living in a swamp and you can't capture anything
View attachment 406273
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It is a very nice shot as a whole. All the astro experts will immediately tell you the best part, or the lowest part of mw is barely visible due to haze and / or light pollution. Maybe it doesn't matter here as much because other things compensate. So that's the big problem here in most places. A nice crisp night in Scotland may be the best bet for completely no light pollution as long as you get lucky with less haze.
 
LongLensPhotography said:
It is a very nice shot as a whole. All the astro experts will immediately tell you the best part, or the lowest part of mw is barely visible due to haze and / or light pollution. Maybe it doesn't matter here as much because other things compensate. So that's the big problem here in most places. A nice crisp night in Scotland may be the best bet for completely no light pollution as long as you get lucky with less haze.
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Absolutely, I don't disagree with that. But part of photography and the challenge of it is to work with the cards you are dealt. Sometimes it's impossible I know but Scotland is more accessible than mid US for us.

Some parts of Wales might be good too but finding a good night in Wales is another story :LOL:

I wouldn't suggest going to Scotland with just the idea of shooting the night sky. Same as for folks chasing the northern lights. You need to go with other things to do and shoot so you still come back happy in the end.
 
nandbytes said:
Some parts of Wales might be good too but finding a good night in Wales is another story :LOL:
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Same or worse goes in Scotland. Elan valley is in theory good for light pollution, but I never saw a clear enough night for it. Cloudless but not clear. You shine a torch up and it is a right mess...

I just get tempted to glue in US ones back from 2012 everywhere. :LOL: Considering the glass I had they look pretty much hands down better than anything I manage to do here with fancier equipment. You just didn't need to play so much with contrast, and clarity and colour, it was all clearly there against pure black, black as in you can't see 10cm ahead, not as in you can still descend a mountain without a torch.

nandbytes said:
I wouldn't suggest going to Scotland with just the idea of shooting the night sky. Same as for folks chasing the northern lights. You need to go with other things to do and shoot so you still come back happy in the end.
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I have done my crazy night of epic failure journey chasing the lights that never were back in the day. Somehow I lost any and all motivation to do it again :LOL:
 
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