Can I see the Milky Way from the beach?

Question

I am a 14 year old boy, and I'm a space freak. When I was in Florida for a week, I went to the beach at night. The sky was incredibly clear, and I could see all the stars shining very bright. The moon was so amazingly bright and clear that is had defined shadows on the sand! It was easily one of the best nights of my life! I am soon moving to Florida, and I will start the summer there. If I return to the beach on a night as clear as that, but with no bright moon, will I be able to see the Milky Way streaks across the sky? If not, how will I be able too? Any tips? Thanks!

Answer 1

For best results, get away from any city lights - and pick a night with a new moon. While I've always found a clear, cold sky in the mountains the best for seeing the Milkyway - you can see it pretty much from anywhere - provided you're in an area where it's dark enough. And, give you eyes a good 30 minutes (longer, if possible) to adapt to the darkness.



Good luck.

Answer 2

If you are sufficiently away from major city lights you should be able to see the band of the Milky Way during the summer.



Two tools to help:

Stellarium:

http://www.stellarium.org





Light pollution atlas:

http://djlorenz.github.io/astronomy/lp2006/overlay/dark.html

Avoid the red and white zones as you won't be able to see the Milky Way in those areas. Yellow isn't too bad, but green, and blue/purple are the best. Black is really the absolute best but you wont get that in Florida.

Answer 3

As long as light pollution doesn't get the better of you should be able to observe the Milky Way galaxy.

Answer 4

The only way to see a perfect nightsky with seeing Milky Way is to be atleast 20km far from any city and light sources.If you want the most perfect conditions you need to be high at the mountain.Atleast 1,2km would be enough.Higher the better.If you can go at 3-4km,great.Climate need to be good.Very dry without humidity.The sky will be the clearest.

If you can see Andromeda galaxy easily with naked eye,those are perfect conditions.For seeing it,atleast 15km far away from any light sources,atleast 1km attitude (its not too important,you could probably see it a little dimmer without going high) and perfect dry weather would be enough for it.

Answer 5

Yes.