I recently saw the most amazing thing – something I hope you all can experience.
My wife, grandkids and I love to camp. One moonless night we stayed at a campground in the high desert of Arizona.
The campground had no outside lighting and forbids guests from turning on outside lights on their campers.
The campground was pitch-black and there was a spectacular, starry sky. I hadn’t seen a night-time sky like that since my childhood.
I am luckier than most. I grew up in a very small town with hardly any streetlights. People left their front lights off except when checking on their daughter (as she and her boyfriend said goodnight on the porch). My dad, our dog and I would take night-time walks on the outskirts of town and regularly enjoy beautiful starry skies.
I had forgotten how glorious a dark sky truly is. The dark sky at the campground allowed us to see “bazillions” of stars. And to the south we could see the Milky Way. It looked like a moonlit cloud arcing across the sky.
{{image2-a:r-w:200}}Our eyes could not resolve it into individual stars so we pulled out our binoculars, and that small amount of magnification resolved the Milky Way into more stars than you can imagine.
One hundred years ago viewing the Milky Way was a part of our ancestors’ everyday life experience. But quite likely most of you reading this article have never seen it. That is because the majority of mankind lives in cities and the city lights overwhelm the Milky Way.
Most of you will probably need to make a special effort to see the Milky Way. First, you must first find a truly dark location. The accompanying map (Figure 1) shows the areas in Australia with the brightest and darkest sky. (A larger version of the whole world can be found at http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/2/6/e1600377.full)
If you live in the city, you can probably identify it as one of the red or yellow splotches. Identify a green, blue or black location near you; that’s your viewing location. It will probably require a drive of an hour or more to reach a dark enough location where it will be visible, but it is well worth the time and effort.
If you go, choose a moonless, cloudless night. Take someone with you to share the experience. And don’t forget your binoculars.
Block any nearby lights from your view and wait about 20 minutes for your eyes to adapt to the dark. In the southern hemisphere, the centre of the Milky Way will be almost overhead, and the band will sweep from the south-western horizon to the north-eastern horizon. Look for a milky cloud. Some parts will be brighter than others, giving a faintly mottled effect. You may also see some “holes” in the Milky Way – that is, clouds of interstellar dust blocking our view of the stars beyond.
I sincerely hope you take the opportunity to enjoy the sheer beauty of a dark night-time sky and the Milky Way. It is truly a galactic wonder.