How to see the Milky Way

Have you ever wanted to look up and see the Milky Way arching across the sky, just like in all those amazing astrophotos? From around September onwards, if you are stargazing even a short distance away from the worst light-polluted areas, you can see the galaxy we live in, the Milky Way.

We see our cosmic home as a milky cascade made up of the billions of stars it contains, hence its name the Milky Way. From our point of view, most of the stars in this stream are all just too far away – and hence faint – for any one star to be noticed by itself.

However, their light blends together to give us the wondrous river of light that stretches across the sky.

You can get an idea of what our Galaxy would look like from the outside by picturing a Catherine wheel firework. As it spins, it forms a spiralling disc of light.

Now, freeze the action with a camera and the resulting image would be similar to looking straight down onto our Galaxy from some great distance.

Each arm in the spiral, and there’s still some debate as to whether there are four or five, is made up of some of the 200-400 billion stars – plus all the dust and gas – that our Galaxy contains, and one of those is our Sun.

All of this is very big indeed. To begin with, our Galaxy’s diameter is around 100,000 lightyears.Each spiral arm has a thickness of up to 2,000 lightyears.

The Sun itself sits about 25,000 lightyears out from the centre in a minor appendage called the Orion-Cygnus Arm.

Why does the Milky Way look like a curved band?

It’s because of our position inside the Galaxy that we see the stars of the other arms as a band arcing across the sky.Since we’re well away from the centre of the Galaxy, the arc isn’t evenly spread around the sky.

If we look in the direction of the constellations Orion and Monoceros, we are looking out of our Galaxy’s plane into empty space.For us in the UK, therefore, the dark nights of late winter and early spring are the not the best time to see the Milky Way.

However, in the opposite direction, towards Sagittarius and Scorpius we are looking directly into the teeming centre of our Galaxy.

More dust, more gas and more stars create a river of light here, making it bigger and brighter. The evenings of autumn are the best time to view this celestial stream.

How do we know all of this? Well, it’s thanks to improvements in observing techniques over the ages.

As telescopes became more powerful over the later 18th century, we began piecing together the similarities between what were thought to be distant ‘nebulae’ and our own starry disc.

And once we could peer into the skies with radio and infrared telescopes, we saw through the Galactic dust and gas that blocked our eyes to reveal the structure beyond.

Did you know that the Milky Way is set to merge with the neighbouring Andromeda Galaxy? Find out more in our guide to the Andromeda-Milky Way collision.

No dark skies near you? Then don't worry - find out how you can bring the stars of the Milky Way into your very own home with our list of the best home planetariums or star projectors.

12 sights to spot in the Milky Way

With the naked eye

Best seen: Autumn.

Even though the Milky Way can be seen from mildly light-polluted areas, it will only be visible here as a brighter wash across the night sky. To truly view its amazing structure and detail in high contrast, look at it from a really dark location.

Best seen: August and September.

It may be quite low to the horizon from the UK, but if you can find a reasonably dark location for yourself, then this constellation can still reveal our Galaxy at its brightest and best since we’re looking right into its central area.

Best seen: September to November.

A lovely Milky Way section runs the length of this constellation. Here you’ll see the dust and gas within our Galaxy obscuring the bright stars beyond. This means that there is much to look out for – dark rifts and brighter patches galore.

Best seen: September and October.

Another fine, diverse area of the Milky Way, made more glorious by the bright Double Cluster in Perseus. You can’t ask for much more than these two glorious concentrations of stars that are both visible to the naked eye.

With binoculars

Best seen: October to February.

These two galactic star clusters form a perfectly sized object for binocular viewing, and what a truly stunning target it is: two concentrated clumps of stars sitting within the melee of Galactic star clouds that surround it.

Best seen: July and August.

This easily noticeable accumulation of dust and gas can be seen as a brighter patch in 10x50 binoculars, even sitting where it does within the fascinating constellation of Sagittarius – a busy and star-rich area of the Milky Way.

Best seen: January to March.

A star cluster that can just about be seen with unaided eyes under clear skies. So it’s a very good target for binoculars, which should reveal about a dozen out of the total of 200 stars in its elongated shape.

Best seen: September to December.

It takes a bit of practice to see this, mainly as it’s a large object. But the surrounding area in the constellation of Cygnus has so many features for binoculars – like the cluster M39 and the double star Omicron¹ Cygni – that it’s worth the effort.

With a small telescope

Best seen: September to November.

This wonderful planetary nebula, looking like a glowing misty oval, is well worth a look; nearby stars and the marvellous backdrop of the Milky Way complete the view. It sits prettily in the constellation Vulpecula.

Best seen: September to November.

It would be hard to find a better double star in the sky than Albireo. The colours are golden (Albireo A) and blue (Albireo B) and it sits in a lovely galactic field of faint stars. The two components are easily separated with a small scope.

Best seen: August and September.

This glowing nebula sits among the starfields of the constellation of Sagittarius, and has a curved shape that can be likened to the Greek capital letter omega (Ω) – hence its name. It’s also known as the Swan Nebula.

Best seen: August and September.

This cluster of around 100 stars in the constellation of Serpens is embedded in a fine cloud of gas, the Eagle Nebula, which has become one of the Hubble Space Telescope’s most iconic images – the Pillars of Creation.

Pictures of the Milky Way

Below is a selection of images of the Milky Way stretching across the night sky, captured by astrophotographers and BBC Sky at Night Magazine readers.

What are your favourite Milky Way sights? Have you managed to capture a good Milky Way nightscape?

Let us know by emailing contactus@skyatnightmagazine.com or getting in touch via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

This article originally appeared in the September 2011 issue of BBC Sky at Night Magazine.