visibilty of the milkyway

conchubhar1

am i missing it?

i live in dublin but can see plenty stars - just not the milky way


with the naked eye - what planets can we see (in ireland) and are they distinguishable from stars?

namloc1980

The Milkyway is a faint band of stars being our own galaxy viewed edge on through it stretching across the sky. You would need good dark skys to see it. The moon or street lights would make it very difficult/impossible to see. Good dark skys and light adapted eyes will show it. It is very faint.

Jupiter is brilliant in the evenings hanging in the south and is the brightest object in the night sky apart from the Moon. You can't miss it!

Saturn, Mars, Venus and Mercury are all visible to the naked eye and are very bright and distinguishable (Mercury can be tricky though as it is close to the Sun), Mars has a definite red colour.

Uranus can be seen with the naked eye but only under good conditions and keen eyesight. Neptune is a telescope object.

conchubhar1

thanks very much!


does it have a fixed position in the sky?
the planets obviously move - but does the milky way have a moving posistion also?


can you see it now (recently)? whereabouts is it in the sky?

derek27

I'd recommend that you download and install a program called Stellarium. Its free. Give's you a complete look at the night sky from any position on the globe in real time. It's very precise - if you start it and look for the positions of the moon or certain constellations, then go out and look at the sky, everything will be in the exact locations that they are displayed on your PC. It's excellent for locating things, and you can search for any star, planet, constellation, nebula, galaxy, cluster, etc. just by typing in it's name. It also allows you to zoom into any of these objects, such as telescope views of planets or galaxies...

http://www.stellarium.org/

Enjoy

conchubhar1

thanks very much.

still looking for answers for the other qs's if people could.

goldenwonder

at bout 4am on the 5th anyone know wat it was.. dunno co ordinates or anythin but it was a pretty big star. looked like a plane but not moving cause it looked like flashing blue/red low enough in the sky lets say south-west of the moon if you use that. (i think) orions belt would have been pointing at it.. looked pretty cool whatever it was

squonk

Sounds like it was Sirius. If it was flashing different colours then that's most likely. Sirius I always think looks like a jewel, plus it's sounding like it's in the right place at the right time these days!

conchubhar1

Ok.

namloc1980

conchubhar1 wrote: »

thanks very much!


does it have a fixed position in the sky?
the planets obviously move - but does the milky way have a moving posistion also?


can you see it now (recently)? whereabouts is it in the sky?

download stellarium as advised above. very good programme and you can set it to show you the night sky at any time for anywhere on earth (or mars/jupiter etc. if you want!). it'll show where to find the planets, milkyway etc.

conchubhar1

I have and it is amazing - I am currently amazed by it.

I am looking at polaris and moon and mars and orion and sirius etc etc.
getting a wide range of stuff now.

also saw a shooting star somewhere around orion - thought i was seeing things.



But still - does the milkyway appaer to move in the sky?

FruitLover

conchubhar1 wrote: »

But still - does the milkyway appaer to move in the sky?

Not in comparison to other stars, if that's what you mean.

Naturally, its position in our sky will seem move as the Earth turns though (as will all celestial bodies).

conchubhar1

Ye it's relative position as we see it.

It seems to run ''east to west'' when I am looking at stelarium and is always visible.

whereas sirius is not always visible and certain planets are not aswel etc.

So that is what I am wondering about if that makes it any clearer?

FruitLover

Well, it'll always be visible (assuming appropriate light conditions) because we're in it, but its position will appear to change throughout the night as the earth spins. You can probably see this by speeding up the time in Stellarium.

conchubhar1

Cool.

That feature is so handy - thanks.

Azelfafage

derek27 wrote: »

I'd recommend that you download and install a program called Stellarium. Its free. Give's you a complete look at the night sky from any position on the globe in real time.

Sad that light pollution has reduced city-dwelling humans to this low.

Never to see the Milky Way except as a Stellarium cartoon on a computer screen.

Stellarium is to the Milky Way what Wilma Flintstone is to Nicole Kidman.


.

jumpguy

Azelfafage wrote: »

Sad that light pollution has reduced city-dwelling humans to this low.

Never to see the Milky Way except as a Stellarium cartoon on a computer screen.

Stellarium is to the Milky Way what Wilma Flintstone is to Nicole Kidman.


.

I agree. But that's the problem of light pollution, it'd be great if there was a better method of providing light found that didn't put alot of it into the sky. Save some energy, allow people to enjoy the night sky, along with other problems associated with night pollution (in humans, stress and fatigue).