Toronto Photography Meetup Group

Hello Folks
I am taking a trip to country side for this week end....
Planning to shoot some Star Trails and Astro stuff...

I had problem of spotting the milky way last time...may be I have seen and i am not sure how to spot them...but ..Probably somebody might help me....with respective to the Big dipper and north star...

I attached a picture that i downloaded from Web.

<img src="http://i.abimg.net/images/answers/120134/288501/URSAS2.jpg?1285089736a">
Any input is greatly appreciated
Cheers
Yeshwanth

The Milky Way appears as a band or cloud that stretches across the sky when it's dark enough to see it.

Thank you Chris..
Can you Please point the North start and big dipper there
Thank you
Yeshwanth

the picture you posted says it all.
One thing you need to remember is the North Star is not the brightest object in that region of the sky.

If you're in an area free from any light pollution, just look south or up, and once your eyes adjust, you should see the milky way easily.

those are great shots!
However, we live in the milky way, so obviuosly you are only seeing a part of the other side.

No, I can't cause I have no clue where in that mess they are. What I can tell you is neither is visible in the second picture as that is facing pretty much directly south so neither would be visible. The top picture is pretty much facing directly north. Both were shot with a wide lens (11-16) gathering a pile of sky. Looking for Polaris to find the Milky Way is like looking at the sun to find the rest of the sky. If the Milky Way is visible you can't really miss it.

Frame of reference, this was close to looking straight south when I was in Killarney a few weeks ago.


20100910-214743

Shot up in Huntsville, I can't believe how easy it is to see faint stars up there ... can't imagine what it would be like from the middle of the ocean on a clear night.

Just to be pedantic: True, although we technically live in the Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy that is joining the Milky Way. Source.

As the milky way covers such a good chunk of the sky, if you look up and CAN'T see it, then you probably won't be able to photograph it either.


This image provides a view with some of the major stars. Ursa Major is the big dipper and is located in the upper left corner of the diagram.

As others have said, if it is visible you can't miss it. Here's a description I find kinda funny.

http://homepage.mac.com/kvmagruder/bcp/galaxies/milky/mwcenter.htm

To face the center of the Milky Way galaxy, one should look toward which constellation?
As explained in Starstruck Tonight:

Continue eastward (from Scorpius) along the ecliptic to the next constellation, Sagittarius the Archer. Sagittarius was a Centaur, the wise Chiron, teacher of Hercules and brave in battle. If you cannot see a creature half-man and half-horse in these stars, then try looking for a teapot. Four stars make the pot... Two stars form a handle... One star is a lid... And the tip of the bowman's arrow makes a spout. If you look right where tea would pour out of the spout, you are looking toward the center of the Milky Way galaxy. The sky in this direction is filled with stars. Scan it with binoculars, and you will see cluster after cluster of stars, rising like little clouds of steam above the teapot.

damn, the Milky way ate our Galaxy! Death to the Milky way! LOL

Thank you Everyone for the input ...
Those pics are fantastic Mike,Itsaphoto and chris
Yeshwanth

Here is a Windows Mobile app that maps the sky above you: http://handheld.softpedia.com/get/Science/Astronomy/Orionic-5189.shtml

Thank you radu...