MilkyWay Question

Broken · 25 Aug 2016

*please move to right post location*

Hi all,

I love looking at all the milky way posts i keep seeing, there amazing!!

just got a question can the MilkyWay be shot anytime of the year or is it dependant on location (away from light pollution ofc) / country and what time of year ?

Regards
Broken

Kodiak Qc · 25 Aug 2016

•

Chris, you hope for

clear sky
away for light pollution
any where on the planet
any time of the year

You have to find out, given the location you may be on
the globe, the proper night that will give you the right
view on our "mother ship!" and keep looking up!

Craig_85 · 25 Aug 2016

There is a superb app called stellarium that I spend a lot of time on fast forwarding to dates in time and previewing the night sky.

You can overlay the ground or turn it off, this shows sometimes that the best but the galactic core is hidden during night time at certain places and points in time.

It also shows the moon which can ruin things if it is in the wrong place.

Actually we are getting into the best time of the year for uk Milky Way shots I think. This weekend is ok but a months time will be darker earlier...

Broken · 25 Aug 2016

Kodiak Qc said:
•

Chris, you hope for

clear sky

away for light pollution

any where on the planet

any time of the year

You have to find out, given the location you may be on
the globe, the proper night that will give you the right
view on our "mother ship!" and keep looking up!

thanks for the reply,

thanks for the info

i wasn't 100% sure on the milkyway something id love to capture at some point may be lucky next week on my holiday break as it shouldn't be as bad as where I live

as unfortunately being in the UK and around a Town/City light pollution is really bad even going to a country side the pollution is terrible, So will venture out at some point to give it ago

!

unless lucky on my break

artdemole · 25 Aug 2016

We are in The Milky Way. Can be seen in different positions as the core goes around .. Pre dawn in February .Peaking in June /July. The core can be seen September /November after dusk.

Broken · 25 Aug 2016

Craig_85 said:
There is a superb app called stellarium that I spend a lot of time on fast forwarding to dates in time and previewing the night sky.

You can overlay the ground or turn it off, this shows sometimes that the best but the galactic core is hidden during night time at certain places and points in time.

It also shows the moon which can ruin things if it is in the wrong place.

Actually we are getting into the best time of the year for uk Milky Way shots I think. This weekend is ok but a months time will be darker earlier...

hey thanks for replying

so i take it the best time in the UK is around the early dark nights September/ October and on wards?

i will check this app out I've never captured the milkyway before never attempted only ever done the moon and the blood moon

either of you two got any photos of your milkyway shots

? id love to see them.

Broken · 25 Aug 2016

artdemole said:
We are in The Milky Way. Can be seen in different positions as the core goes around .. Pre dawn in February .Peaking in June /July. The core can be seen September /November after dusk.

thanks for the reply

yeah sorry I didn't word it right what I meant was like time of year make a difference due to brightness of the moon, sun how long the days last, vs the October time when its dark early and for longer

do you have any photos of the milkyway you want to share

?

Gaz J · 25 Aug 2016

Broken said:
thanks for the reply

yeah sorry I didn't word it right what I meant was like time of year make a difference due to brightness of the moon, sun how long the days last, vs the October time when its dark early and for longer

do you have any photos of the milkyway you want to share ?

This was taken beginning of May 2016

https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/threads/milky-way-over-broad-haven-south.624387/

londonbackpackr · 25 Aug 2016

Craig_85 said:
There is a superb app called stellarium that I spend a lot of time on fast forwarding to dates in time and previewing the night sky.

A couple of other useful site are Moon Phases Calendar for check for no moon and Dark Skies map to see the dark places

Billy · 25 Aug 2016

londonbackpackr said:
A couple of other useful site are Moon Phases Calendar for check for no moon and Dark Skies map to see the dark places

I'm also interested in shooting the stars, thanks for supplying the links.

Broken · 25 Aug 2016

Gaz J said:
This was taken beginning of May 2016

https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/threads/milky-way-over-broad-haven-south.624387/

nice shot i like that!! i really want to get some milkyway shots looks like the moon is at its darkest for my holiday!!

give this ago on the beach

if i can see it!

londonbackpackr said:
A couple of other useful site are Moon Phases Calendar for check for no moon and Dark Skies map to see the dark places

thanks for this mate I've added these to my fave folder

Billy said:
I'm also interested in shooting the stars, thanks for supplying the links.

post a picture up if you do any shooting

Pookeyhead · 26 Aug 2016

Kodiak Qc said:
•

Chris, you hope for

clear sky

away for light pollution

any where on the planet

any time of the year

You have to find out, given the location you may be on
the globe, the proper night that will give you the right
view on our "mother ship!" and keep looking up!

Partially correct. You can indeed see the milky way from anywhere away from light pollution , but there are certainly places on earth that give dramatically better views of it. This is not just down to light pollution either. The views from the southern hemisphere are dramatically better than those from the northern hemisphere, as they get a view of the galactic centre.. we do not.

best views are in late summer to late autumn/early winter.... round about now, to around late november, early december.... (but only because you never really get full darkness in teh summer months in the UK) In the northern hemisphere at this time of year, the milky way runs almost right through the very easy to find constellation of Cygnus. It looks like a giant cross.

I've marked it out in this shot.

Kodiak Qc · 26 Aug 2016

Pookeyhead said:
Partially correct.… but there are certainly places on earth that give dramatically better views of it.

Aware of this, I noted…

Kodiak Qc said:
You have to find out, given the location you may be on
the globe, the proper night that will give you the right
view on our "mother ship!" and keep looking up!

Pookeyhead · 27 Aug 2016

Kodiak Qc said:
Aware of this, I noted…

But that doesn't explain why you'll never get a shot like this....

...from the united kingdom, or indeed anywhere in northern and mid Europe... ever... no matter how dark... no matter how fast your lens, or low in noise your sensor is... you will never, ever get a shot like this from the northern hemisphere.

Your post doesn't say that at all.

[edit] Not my shot... random from the 'net.

Broken · 28 Aug 2016

Pookeyhead said:
But that doesn't explain why you'll never get a shot like this....

View attachment 72412

...from the united kingdom, or indeed anywhere in northern and mid Europe... ever... no matter how dark... no matter how fast your lens, or low in noise your sensor is... you will never, ever get a shot like this from the northern hemisphere.

Your post doesn't say that at all.

[edit] Not my shot... random from the 'net.

Man that's an incredible shot!! Absolutely stunning! Shame you didn't catch it though

!

Just a shame we live in an area that doesn't get such good photos of stuff like this! But I guess we have to make do!

AJR SIMPSON · 28 Aug 2016

Pookeyhead said:
But that doesn't explain why you'll never get a shot like this....

...from the united kingdom, or indeed anywhere in northern and mid Europe... ever... no matter how dark... no matter how fast your lens, or low in noise your sensor is... you will never, ever get a shot like this from the northern hemisphere.

Your post doesn't say that at all.

[edit] Not my shot... random from the 'net.

I don't think anyone got as specific as to seeing that part! It was a few general pointers as to seeing it which unless I'm mistaken it can be seen in the UK, Northern hemisphere etc etc etc
On the plus side we don't have to that butt ugly buildings.

peterh_602 · 29 Aug 2016

After visiting New Zealand earlier this year, I could easily catch the Milky Way bug! I'm off to Sicily in a couple of weeks, where I hope I can find some spots with low light pollution and clear skies.

I've just been playing round with two tools that look like they could be very useful in planning shoots anywhere in the world: The Photographer's Ephemeris (http://photoephemeris.com/) and Stellarium (http://www.stellarium.org/). The latter has dampened my expectations for Sicily!

I found this helpful (and it shows how to use the two tools above):

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMN_rpSe7MQ

Happysnapper79 · 29 Aug 2016

Check out the Photopills App, very useful if you don't mind parting with a few quid.