The Milky Way Galaxy over Gilgering, Western Australia

The Milky Way Galaxy over Gilgering, Western Australia

This is a 20 shot panorama of the Milky Way setting above a lone tree on a farm at Gilgering, 1.5 hours east of Perth in Western Australia. 

How is the night sky different when observing from the Earth's Southern Hemisphere?

The brightest part of the Milky Way, its core, lies in the constellation Sagittarius the Archer. Sagittarius is a Southern Sky constellation and the Southern Hemisphere observers can see it directly overhead in the Winter.

The Milky Way is not the only galaxy you can observe from the Southern Hemisphere. The Milky Way’s two satellite galaxies, the Large Magellanic Cloud and the Small Magellanic Cloud, can be easily spotted in the Southern Skies too.

The Fading Milky Way

Light pollution is a growing environmental problem that threatens to erase the night sky before its time. A recent study revealed that perhaps two-thirds of the world's population can no longer look upwards at night and see the Milky Way—a hazy swath of stars that on warm summer nights spans the sky from horizon to horizon.

The Milky Way is dimming, not because the end of the Universe is near, but rather as a result of light pollution: the inadvertent illumination of the atmosphere from street lights, outdoor advertising, homes, schools, airports and other sources. Every night billions of bulbs send their energy skyward where microscopic bits of matter—air molecules, airborne dust, and water vapor droplets—reflect much of the wasted light back to Earth. 

(Source: NASA)

Learn more:

International Dark-Sky Association

https://www.darksky.org/light-pollution

Globe at Night

https://www.globeatnight.org

Night Sky Network (NASA JPL)

https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/index.cfm

Tourism Australia: https://www.australia.com

Technical Data:

Nikon d810a, 50mm, ISO 6400, f/2.8

Foreground: 6 x 30 seconds

Sky: 14 x 30 seconds

IOptron SkyTracker

Hoya Red Intensifier filter

Credit: Trevor Dobson

Trevor's Instagram: trevordobson_astro

Location: Gilgering, Western Australia

Image Date: August 20, 2022

 

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