What does the Milky Way look like?
Sometimes, the billions of stars comprising our home galaxy appear especially vibrant during “Milky Way season” as the band arcs across the night sky. The reason has much to do with the cycle of the moon, but it also has to do with how high in the sky the Milky Way should appear from our perspective here on Earth, specifically in the United States.
Here’s everything to know about our Milky Way, including how (and when) to see the stunning natural phenomenon.
What is the Milky Way galaxy?
The Milky Way is our home galaxy with a disc of stars that spans more than 100,000 light-years. Because it appears as a rotating disc curving out from a dense central region, the Milky Way is known as a spiral galaxy.
Our planet itself is located along one of the galaxy’s spiral arms, about halfway from the center, according to NASA.
The Milky Way sits in a cosmic neighborhood called the Local Group that includes more than 50 other galaxies. Those galaxies can be as small as a dwarf galaxy with up to only a few billion stars, or as large as Andromeda, our nearest large galactic neighbor.
Why is it called the Milky Way?
The Milky Way got its name because from our perspective on Earth, it appears as a faint band of light stretching across the entire sky.
Photos of the Milky Way galaxy: Is the Milky Way visible on Earth? When to see during ‘Milky Way season’
While the Milky Way is generally always visible from Earth, certain times of year are better for stargazers to catch a glimpse of the band of billions of stars comprising our galaxy.
“Milky Way season,” when the galaxy’s bright center becomes easier to see from Earth, typically runs from February to October, according to Milky Way photography website Capture the Atlas. However, the best time to see the Milky Way in the Northern Hemisphere is from March to September.
Where and how to see the Milky Way in the US and from Florida
Those who live in the Northern Hemisphere, which includes the entire continental United States, could have spectacular views of the Milky Way on clear nights with a new moon.
In the Northern Hemisphere, the Milky Way rises in the southeast, travels across the southern sky and sets in the southwest, according to Weather.com.
Typically, the sky is darkest between about midnight and 5 a.m., according to Capture the Atlas.
Stargazers can observe the Milky Way galaxy by looking for the Summer Triangle, “a shape formed by three bright stars” that spans across the Milky Way, according to LiveScience.com.
In Florida, the National Park Service recommends the Everglades: “Each month around the time of the new moon, Everglades National Park offers superbly dark conditions that are ideal for viewing the Milky Way. On a dark night and in a dark place within the park, look to the south to find the Milky Way.
“In the Northern Hemisphere, the center of the Milky Way will be low in the southern sky, and the glowing band will sweep upward in an arch across the eastern sky to the northern horizon. Some parts of the faint silvery or milky cloud will be slightly mottled. The brighter spots are caused by star clouds, which are concentrations of millions of stars that are too faint to see as individual stars. The darker areas are caused by clouds of interstellar dust that block our view of the stars beyond.
“Viewing the Milky Way with a pair of binoculars will provide enough magnification to resolve the Milky Way into thousands of individual stars,” the section about Florida and the Milky Way on nps.gov states.
Spectators will have the best luck on cloud-free nights and in locations away from city light pollution. DarkSky International maintains a website that lists all designated dark sky communities around the world, including 159 locations in the U.S.
Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: What does Milky Way galaxy look like when it’s visible from Earth? When is Milky Way season?
Reporting by Eric Lagatta and Jennifer Sangalang, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Florida Today
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
