Milky Way Times?

Can anyone who has shot the Milky Way before provide a rough time of when they were able to see it at its best? Its only 9:30 at the moment, but really really dark, cannot see my hands infront of my face. There's lots in the sky and I've also seen a shooting star, but just wondering when it would usually show up. If atall?? Or could an exposure bring it forward before the eye can actually see it?

Thanks!

There is a fantastic program here to download (http://www.stellarium.​org/) that'll show you the night sky - fast forward it a bit and you should see when the MW is visible to you.

A fantastic tool.

Lawrence

Trugga wrote in post #14134504
There is a fantastic program here to download (http://www.stellarium.​org/) that'll show you the night sky - fast forward it a bit and you should see when the MW is visible to you.

A fantastic tool.

Lawrence

A number of nice apps available too for an iPhone or Android phone.

Thanks guys! Sucks that I'm on Blackberry though and can't see it!

For you at the moment, it should be low on the North to North-West horizon. It looks like it's the least visible part of the Milky Way that you'd be seeing at the moment. I'm only going by what the computer is telling me as I've never seen that part. It's the middle of the day here and I'm eating lunch.

A very nice program indeed! Does it need an internet connection to work? Next time, I could just take my laptop with me!

No, Stellarium does not require an internet connection. It downloads catalogues of stars when it's run the first time, and that's the only time the internet is used.