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August continues to be an important month to take a look at the skies. This month gives among the best alternatives to see the Milky Way.
The center of our galaxy is teeming with billions of stars that typically are seen from Earth, however at sure instances of the yr, they’re much more vibrant.
As summer season nears its finish, so does the so-called Milky Way season (February to October) within the United States. Fortunately, stargazers nonetheless have an opportunity to glimpse the Milky Way’s iconic arc of lights within the night time sky.
Here’s what to know in regards to the Milky Way and find out how to see it.
What is the Milky Way galaxy?
The Milky Way is our house galaxy with a disc of stars that spans greater than 100,000 light-years. Because it seems as a rotating disc curving out from a dense central area, the Milky Way is known as a spiral galaxy.
Planet Earth sits alongside one of many galaxy’s spiral arms, about midway from the middle, in response to NASA.
The Milky Way sits in a cosmic neighborhood referred to as the Local Group that features greater than 50 different galaxies. Those galaxies might be as “small” as a dwarf galaxy with as much as only some billion stars or as massive as Andromeda, our nearest massive galactic neighbor.
Why is it referred to as the Milky Way?
The Milky Way bought its identify as a result of, from our perspective on Earth, it seems as a faint, milky band of sunshine stretching throughout the sky.
How to view Milky Way
Though the Milky Way is usually all the time seen from Earth, sure instances of yr are higher for stargazers to catch a glimpse of the band of billions of stars.
But as a result of visibility from Earth is dependent upon the latitude, the additional south you go, the longer the Milky Way season will final. For occasion, within the Northern Hemisphere, which incorporates the continental United States, one of the best time to see the Milky Way is typically from March to September, in response to Capture the Atlas.
What you are when the Milky Way is seen is the brilliant middle of our galaxy, “seen edge-on from our position within the galaxy’s disk,” Preston Dyches, who hosts NASA’s “What’s Up,” a month-to-month video collection that describes what’s occurring within the night time sky, wrote in June for NASA.
When to look at the Milky Way in August 2025
The middle of the Milky Way, which Dyches refers to as “the core,” turned seen in June and is predicted to shine each night time by August because it will get increased in a darker sky.
Typically, the sky is darkest from about midnight to five a.m., in response to Capture the Atlas. You can test dawn and sundown instances at your location utilizing the web site TimeAndDate. El Paso, Texas, at present has dawn at about 6:30 a.m. MT and sundown at 7:42 p.m. MT.
“This doesn’t mean that as soon as the sun goes down you can see the Milky Way,” writes Dan Zafra, co-founder of Capture the Atlas. “Even if it’s in the sky, the Milky Way will be barely visible during blue hour, so you’ll have to wait at least until the end of the astronomical twilight to see all the details of the Milky Way.”
This month, the Milky Way will probably be diagonal firstly of the night time, vertical in the course of the midnight, and low above the horizon on the finish of the night time, in response to Capture the Atlas.
Tips on greatest strategy to see Milky Way
Spectators can have one of the best luck on cloud-free nights and in places away from metropolis mild air pollution.
Of the 159 locations in the United States which are designated darkish sky communities, there are greater than 10 places in Texas. They embody:
Big Bend Ranch State Park near Terlingua, Texas
Greater Big Bend International Dark Sky Reserve in Fort Davis, Texas
Black Gap Wildlife Management Area
Devils River State Natural Area in Del Rio area.
South Llano River State Park in Junction, Texas.
Copper Breaks State Park in northern Texas.
UBarU Camp and Retreat Center in southwest Gillespie County, Texas.
Stargazers can observe the Milky Way galaxy by searching for the Summer Triangle, a form shaped by “three bright stars” that spans throughout the Milky Way, in response to science information web site LiveScience.
In the Northern Hemisphere, the Milky Way rises within the southeast, travels throughout the southern sky and units within the southwest, according to Weather.com.
Source: USAToday.
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