Date : March – September
Time : After Sun Set
Direction Southern sky
From the end of March until the end of September we enter the Milky Way season. During this time the Milky Way appears earlier and earlier in the sky. In June and July, the Milky Way will be in the southern sky after sunset. This can be difficult to observe in London, but if we can go to a countryside area with less light pollution, such as the South Downs National Park, or the coast between Brighton and Eastbourne, we can see the beautiful Milky Way like a milky white belt hanging up from south to north.
If you want to take a photo of the Milky Way, it is not difficult, you don’t even need a professional single-lens camera, many mobile phones such as iPhone or Google mobile phone can use the built-in long exposure effect to shoot the Milky Way, due to the need to expose for more than 20 seconds, Any movement will affect the image, so it’s a good idea to have a mini-tripod for your phone, or hand hold the phone on a stable platform for support.
If you are traveling to Spain, Greece, Italy or southern France at this time, don’t miss seeing the Scorpio constellation, with Antares appearing immediately to the right of the Milky Way. In London and South East England we can see Antares but we cannot see Scorpio’s tail, only in more southerly latitudes like southern France can we see the full Scorpio constellation. I will never forget the first time I saw Scorpio in Greece, it is like a giant scorpion rushing towards to me, what a stunning experience.
If you cannot travel abroad, you can still enjoy the Milky Way near the suburbs, and you must not miss the summer triangle. As long as the light pollution is slightly lower, you can see the three famous fixed stars: Vega above the Milky Way, Altair below the Milky Way and Deneb Adige hidden in the Milky way.
These two photos was taken at Seaford in September 2022
Milky way at Stonehenge
This photo was my very first Milky way panorama 20 July 2021 with Pentax K1 ii
