Milky Way Info Request

[j-wilson]

I'm planning a trip to southern Utah for the end of the month and would like to try to get a few pictures of the Milky Way from some of the dark sky areas (Arches, Natural Bridges, etc.). Does anyone have any data for the positioning of the Milky Way (what time it will visible at the horizon, where it will rise, etc.) for southern Utah between Sept. 22 - 25?

I understand there is Skygazer4 software available from Carina, but since I live in Chicago with outrageous levels of light pollution, I really can't justify spending the money on something I'm likely to only use once.

Any information would be much appreciated.

[Bodo]

Cartes du Ciel

http://www.stargazing.net/astropc/

Free and easy to use. Get the Milky Way addon and you're all set.

[j-wilson]

Perfect, thank you! I just started playing around and it seems like a very cool program.

[Wildewinds]

From my research, the milky way extends from horizon to horizon. The "bright" part, or galactic center of the milky way galaxy is what you're really looking for, though. That gets lower and lower on the horizon as the summer passes. I believe July and August are the best months. It should still be visible low on the horizon in late September.

Sagittarius is near the galactic center. So is Pluto (at least nowadays).

I like this program: www.stellarium.org

[Sorarse]

Having tried both Cartes du Ciel and Stellarium, I find the latter to be the frienflier to use of the two. It is also available as a free download.

http://www.stellarium.org

[j-wilson]

Thanks to everyone for the information! Much appreciated.

[spit]

stellarium is nice as an observing tool, CDC is a top notch program, but i prefer HNsky over it