Is the Milky Way on a 'Time Schedule'?

MIght sound like a silly question, but are there certain times of the night that the Milky Way is more visible for photographing than other times? i.e. early evening, early morning, middle of the night?

If you ask about visibility, i would rather say it depends upon weather. But if you are asking weather brighter part of milky way is seen in certain time, yes there is certain time or season you can see it.
Central part or core of milky way is the brightest part of our milky way galaxy and due to difference in earth position in different seasons, you can see the core part in summer time. Milky way is just group of stars and it moves the same way as other stars or constellations. In winter you see the periphery of our galaxy and it is more faint. I suggest you use a software called 'stellarium'. this tells you when and where the stars, milky way, or constellation is located in the sky at certain time.
From my experience, I think april to June, july is good time to see milky way with its core rising above the horizon. It rises somewhere above the southern horizon.

Btw, everything I wrote above is in perspective from the northern hemisphere. If you live in southern, you can see the other side of our milky way galaxy and other cool stuffs too. : )

Its more than just Time ..
Its Location Location Location.
Location on the Earth, height above sea level, clean air.
Best location I have found is on a volcano in Costa Rica
in Sept at about 10 pm on a clear night.

Well I'm out in the desert in Arizona right now Was going to drive out a ways where there is no light pollution tonight or tomorrow…not really sure what I'll see. Guess there is one way to find out.

I just know I've taken pictures late at night…then got up early the next morning before sunrise and it was like the intense part of the milky way had vanished…figured it was similar to constellations and such.

I use stellarium on the computer as well. Free download, pretty cool program.

I've found that around here summertime, around July usually is the best time to see the Milky Way. Of course add in that a really dark open spot and it just gets better. Next summer I'm making the trek west to get away from the lights and hazy humid skies we have here.

CatchingUp wrote in post #16487982
MIght sound like a silly question, but are there certain times of the night that the Milky Way is more visible for photographing than other times? i.e. early evening, early morning, middle of the night?

Heya,

There are certain times, each day, that the better parts of the Milky Way may be visible. It's not just a band of arms. When you're seeing the Milky Way, you're looking into or away from a spiral arm of our galaxy. When you are looking away from the heart of the galaxy, it's less bright, there's less clusters and clouds. When you are looking from a position through the arm we are in, and towards the heart of the galaxy, you're getting light from a combination of all three spiral arms, and the center, which is the biggest and brightest part of the galaxy. So location seriously matters. If you're on Earth at whatever time at night and looking up, that "up" for you may be looking away from the heart of the galaxy so it will not be that brilliant, versus if "up" for you on another night is facing the heart of the galaxy and you have the most brilliant showing of the galaxy in view over head.

Mapping and timing when you will see the best part of the milky way takes planning. You have to know when that heart of the galaxy will be overhead where you are on the planet, at the time when you plan to photograph it (ie, later at night when it's the darkest sky possible ideally). This might be once a year for an ideal shot. It comes down to when and where you are.

I use Stellarium software (free) to look and see from where I am on the planet, and at night from 7pm to 4am or so, what section of the milky way I'll see over head each night and just peek into the future a little until I find a night that I think I want to try to photograph.

Then you pray for the weather to allow for it (ie, no clouds, not raining, snow, etc).

And pray that you don't have a ton of air traffic in your line of sight (grr).

And of course, finding really dark skies is ideal. It's amazing how much light there is at the horizon, from light pollution from cities and other stuff, that shows up rather ugly sometimes in long exposures. It'll be darkest if the galaxy's heart is overhead and not on the horizon of course, as you eliminate anything for miles at the horizon adding to your light. But often times it's nice to have the horizon if it's nice and adds character, like static objects, or tree lines, beach, rocks, etc.

It's actually pretty difficult depending on your location and local weather to really get great views of the Milky Way. Off in a desert, there's better odds. Living in a windy, rainy area near cities? Rough. You'll have to make road trips.

Very best,

Great info here…thank you very much.

Did get a few shots last night while visiting out here in AZ…some clouds…and didn't see the heart of the 'milky way'…but hoping for another chance tonight.

Thanks again

MalVeauX wrote in post #16488695
Heya,

There are certain times, each day, that the better parts of the Milky Way may be visible. It's not just a band of arms. When you're seeing the Milky Way, you're looking into or away from a spiral arm of our galaxy. When you are looking away from the heart of the galaxy, it's less bright, there's less clusters and clouds. When you are looking from a position through the arm we are in, and towards the heart of the galaxy, you're getting light from a combination of all three spiral arms, and the center, which is the biggest and brightest part of the galaxy. So location seriously matters. If you're on Earth at whatever time at night and looking up, that "up" for you may be looking away from the heart of the galaxy so it will not be that brilliant, versus if "up" for you on another night is facing the heart of the galaxy and you have the most brilliant showing of the galaxy in view over head.

Mapping and timing when you will see the best part of the milky way takes planning. You have to know when that heart of the galaxy will be overhead where you are on the planet, at the time when you plan to photograph it (ie, later at night when it's the darkest sky possible ideally). This might be once a year for an ideal shot. It comes down to when and where you are.

I use Stellarium software (free) to look and see from where I am on the planet, and at night from 7pm to 4am or so, what section of the milky way I'll see over head each night and just peek into the future a little until I find a night that I think I want to try to photograph.

Then you pray for the weather to allow for it (ie, no clouds, not raining, snow, etc).

And pray that you don't have a ton of air traffic in your line of sight (grr).

And of course, finding really dark skies is ideal. It's amazing how much light there is at the horizon, from light pollution from cities and other stuff, that shows up rather ugly sometimes in long exposures. It'll be darkest if the galaxy's heart is overhead and not on the horizon of course, as you eliminate anything for miles at the horizon adding to your light. But often times it's nice to have the horizon if it's nice and adds character, like static objects, or tree lines, beach, rocks, etc.

It's actually pretty difficult depending on your location and local weather to really get great views of the Milky Way. Off in a desert, there's better odds. Living in a windy, rainy area near cities? Rough. You'll have to make road trips.

Very best,

whats a post in the photo sharing section w/o photos ?

well, have a laptop is nice, when you are in the field it's really handy to have one of these, dial it to month/day/time, and look up and be amazed....
see the milky way on it? there is your answer, it does move with the stars......

I also use a app on my iPhone call "Sky Guide" that's how I locate where the Milky Way is for when I go out to photograph it. Like the others have mentioned, the summer money are the prime time to see the Milky Way in all it's glory (if you live in the Norther Hemisphere).

As everyone on here has already stated, the Milky Way and its brightest region Sagittarius rotate relative to the earth just like every other star and constellation. The best and easiest months for shooting the Milky Way, in my opinion, are May through July. The further south you are the more time you have during the year to shoot the brightest portion due to the Sagittarius region being higher in the sky the further south you go. In May, the Milky Way "rises" over the horizon an hour or two after dark and appears initially more horizontal in relation to the horizon. This is my favorite time to shoot it. As you go further into the summer and fall, the Milky Way is nearly vertical just after dark, with the brightest region being due south to southwest. The Sagittarius region then begins to "set" shortly after that. During December to March or so the brightest area can barely be seen from the continental US.

For instance:

May - note how the brightest area is higher in the sky and the galaxy is a bit horizontal

good stuff Brett.

Heya,

That's really helpful to see the potential views at the times of year. Really helps plan it out. I really want to take a trip in the summer to a very remote southern desert and spend a few days doing nothing but sky shots and beer drinking.

Thanks for the inspiration!

Very best,