Look Up: The Milky Way Returns to Light Up Summer Skies
Stargazers in the Northern Hemisphere can witness the galaxy’s densest and brightest region this summer, the night skies are putting on a cosmic spectacle as the Milky Way returns to full view.
The galaxy’s brilliant core, home to billions of stars, can now be seen arching across the sky in a dazzling display best viewed during the dark, early morning hours. From late spring through August, stargazers in the Northern Hemisphere can witness the galaxy’s densest and brightest region rise in the southeast and sweep across the southern horizon before setting in the southwest.
Milky Way Galaxy
The Milky Way is the galaxy that we live in, a vast, spiral-shaped collection of stars, planets, gas, dust, and dark matter. It contains over 100 billion stars, including our own Sun, and stretches about 100,000 light-years across.
That glow is the light from billions of distant stars packed so closely together that they blur into a faint streak to the naked eye. The Milky Way gets its name from ancient civilizations who thought it looked like a “river of milk” or a trail of spilled light across the heavens. The name itself comes from the Latin via lactea, which means “milky road.”
You can see it most clearly in the summer months in the Northern Hemisphere, especially in dark-sky areas away from light pollution, when the core rises high in the sky during the late night and early morning hours.
Milky Way Visible During The Summer Months
From late spring through August, the prime viewing window is between midnight and 5 a.m., when the sky is darkest and the Milky Way’s core is above the horizon. While it won’t appear as vividly colorful as in long-exposure photographs, the galaxy will be visible as a faint, silvery band of light, almost like a river of stars stretching across the heavens.
Official dark sky parks and remote desert locations provide ideal conditions to experience the full majesty of our home galaxy. No telescopes are needed, just a clear night, minimal moonlight, and a view away from city lights.
The visibility of the Milky Way varies with the time of year, moon phase, and weather, but summer is the most dependable season for catching its full glow. For anyone looking to connect with the cosmos, this is the perfect opportunity to escape the noise and let the universe do the talking.