When I was much younger, one of the greatest influences on my life was seeing the night sky and the Milky Way. Closest I ever came to religion.
It saddens me to think that so many people have no idea of the grandeur of a rich and dazzling, seemingly three-dimensional night sky.
Bottom line, have you seen the Milky Way?
Just the other night from a campsite in Vermont ( just visiting). Quite frequently at home in Maine.
Used to see it when I’d camp out at my uncle’s farm in Connecticut.
I hope not only people who’ve seen the Milky Way will be drawn to this poll!
I have, but it makes me sad it’s been so long.
Fairly often.
Best was on a Navy ship (routinely darkened at night) during clear nights in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
The sky there defies description. It becomes hard to pick out familiar constellations - they are washed out by an astonishingly bright background of stars.
This. I only ever saw it in all its glory in 1986 at a camping site at Timmendorfer Strand at the Baltic coast. I think I was a bit drunk and was the last guest at the camping site to still be awake and outside of the tent, and the sky overwhelmed me like never before or after.
I don’t think I’ve ever been anywhere rural enough to see it. At least not that I can recall.
Nope. Never seen it. Even on the best of nights my eyes just aren’t good enough to see it.
I saw some great star expanses as a kid but how close they came to fitting what you mean I cannot say; we were certainly rural enough. But now with all the lights and cities and all -------- nothing close in maybe 30 years.
I was a maybe.
I am lucky to own property in an area that has pretty dark skies, so I can see it from our back yard.
However, I grew up in the suburbs of Washington, DC, and I don’t think I saw it until I moved to the Southwest.
I can still see it; but not as well as I could when I was a child, and fewer places had outdoor lights left on all night.
Saw it all the time growing up in Alaska.
Oh wow! Those are great and I am jealous!
I lived in Alberta for a while, in Calgary very close to a provincial park. Just like yours, the nights there were low humidity and often transparent. I could see the Andromeda Galaxy, naked eye, from my back porch. I am seriously thinking of spending some serious time in Arizona in the next years. I will soon have that time.
PM me when you come out, and we’ll take a Stargazing trip.
Seen it? I’ve been there.
It’s been a while but I have seen it in rural Maine. Yes, seeing the Milky Way requires very dark skies.
I would have said “no” until last Saturday, when I was at an undeveloped State Park. It was dim, but I was able to confirm that it was the Milky Way because I have Mobile Observatory on my phone. Having seen it, I realize that I probably have seen it before back when the skies were darker/cleaner where I live, and it was so subtle I mistook it for light clouds. (It is nothing remotely as obvious as beowulf’s photos, at least where I live.)
I knew that it was futile to attempt to photograph it with my phone, but I tried anyway. I deleted the actual photo, but here is an approximation of what I got. (That’s Jupiter.)
Last summer in Yellowstone. It was quite dazzling.
The first time I really remember seeing the Milky Way was when I was 18 visiting my cousins in Tasmania. Until then, I thought I’ve seen starry skies, but didn’t realize that, no, I had never truly seen starry skies. It was breathtaking. I distinctly remember thinking “Oh, that’s why they call it the Milky Way.” Plus there was the added bonus of seeing an unfamiliar southern sky with none of the familiar constellations.
What is weird is that we did take a visit to Yellowstone and parts of the West that are known “dark sky” locations when I was 14 or 15, but I guess I didn’t have the opportunity to look up at the stars at night, or perhaps it was overcast (though we were away for a good week, so I doubt that.) At any rate, that was the only time I would have been exposed to the possibility of seeing the Milky Way until then.