Observing the Milky Way in desaru

[Gary]

Hi all,
As above. You may download and print this to bring along to your trip:

http://goo.gl/4pEyt (sky map for July 2011 in pdf format)

The blue stretch indicated in the pdf is the Milky Way. Learn to recognise the Saggitarius and Scorpius constellations. The brightest bulge of the Milky Way is at the middle of this two constellations.

You need very clear skies to see it. If the skies are not clear enough, you may see Sagittarius and Scorpius constellations clearly but still can't see the Milky Way.

Try to position yourself in a dark (and safe) spot to let your eyes dark adapt as much as possible. This will increase your chances of seeing it or seeing it better if the skies are clear enough.

Another excellent way to prepare yourself is to play with the free Stellarium software (www.stellarium.org) and familiarise yourself with the milky way position at various time.

Bring a telescope or binocular along. In the event you can see the Milky Way there, that means there are also a lot of other stars, galaxies, nebula that can be seen! Even using naked eyes alone, you can have lots of fun trying to identify and recognise the various constellations in the pdf or stellarium.

Good luck!

[Gary]

Hi Mod. Thanks for moving the thread as per requested.

The above post is my reply to Artificial here:
http://singastro.org/viewtopic.php?p=69 ... 8761#69925