Way cool scale tool. I was looking around for the national debt, but I don't think I zoomed out far enough.
I only see it when I'm away from the city, usually just when I'm up in the mountains. Our sun is part of the Milky Way galaxy -- we are part of an outer arm -- and the Milky Way is just the band of dense stars that we see in looking edgewise towards the center of the our own galaxy. So for part of the year (Nov through Feb it turns out) we are on the outer side versus the Sun, which therefore is in the same direction in the sky as middle, densest parts of the Milky Way. I think that means you can see the Milky way close to sunrise or sunset, but only part of one half or the other, not the bright center nor the full length of it.
However, in summer in the northern hemisphere, we are on the 'inside' -- closer to the center of the galaxy than the sun -- hence the milky way is much more visible because it's up at night and also you can see the densest part.
I confess I've never though this all through, but the best viewing in is therefore in the summer when you can see a great big swath including the brightest sections which is when you are looking directly towards the center of the galaxy, and in winter, it is just more elusive, near sunset or sunrise and not so bright, big, nor interesting. And if in winter you are where there is light pollution, you won't stand a chance to see it in winter. And probably not summer, either!
For me, the elusive critter to see is Mercury, which I've only seen one time, just after sunset and just before it set. |
