When and where can you see the galactic center?

Im planning on going on a roadtrip soon, and im gonna go camping, somewhere in the deep back country, with absolutely zero light pollution, and im gonna bring my awesome telescope to do some star gazing, but one thing really wanna see is the galactic center from the ground, like how you see it in pictures and videos, and im wondering if thats even possible, if it even looks as spectacular to the naked eye, and not due to a time lapse?


Now, the question is, where do you have to be on earth to see it? just anywhere, where its super dark at night? or does it have to be a certain time of year?

I tried googling all this, but just got irrelevant info, hopefully some stargazing pros here on ATS can help me out :p

reply to post by 8fl0z


Explanation: S&F!

Sagitarius A* is the Milky Way Galaxy's central massive black hole ..it IS the center of the galaxy.

Sagitarius A* [wiki]

Sagittarius A* (pronounced "Sagittarius A-star", standard abbreviation Sgr A*) is a bright and very compact astronomical radio source at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, near the border of the constellations Sagittarius and Scorpius. It is part of a larger astronomical feature known as Sagittarius A. Sagittarius A* is believed to be the location of a supermassive black hole, such as are now generally accepted to be at the centers of most spiral and elliptical galaxies. Observations of the star S2 in orbit around Sagittarius A* have been used to show the presence of, and produce data about, the Milky Way's central supermassive black hole, and have led to the conclusion that Sagittarius A* is the site of that black hole.

And the Sagitarius constellation is best viewed from as far south as you can get...

Find Sagitarius in the night sky [aenigmatis.com]

The Annual Visibility of Sagittarius

Sagittarius is best observed during the Northern hemisphere summer months (winter in the Southern hemisphere) because during this time the constellation is visible throughout the night and is seen in darkness when it is highest in the sky. Southern hemisphere observers have the best view of Sagittarius, since it crosses almost directly overhead in the sky. In general, the Northern hemisphere has a less favorable view - the visibility of the constellation being worse the further North one is situated. Indeed, the Southern section of the constellation cannot be seen at all from high Northern latitudes.

Personal Disclosure: Goodluck and I hope this helps!

Just get really far away from any city and you'll see the dark rift. I remember seeing it out in the countryside of Austria, several km from Vienna. But even that wasn't quite far enough because it wasn't quite as spectacular as some videos (it wasn't as colourful for one), but it was still pretty fantastic to behold, especially if you're used to seeing a handful of stars at night. You'll most definitely have to get out pretty far - middle of nowhere - to get a good view, like 50-200 km away from any city, at least. Elevation also helps.

You should probably google "dark rift" or "great rift", because that's what you're really looking at when looking towards the galactic core. It's all the dust that obscures the bright bulge at the centre of our galaxy.

It's interesting that we have that dust cloud there which conveniently blocks our view to the centre of the galaxy - Our night sky would be quite different without that dust there, that's for sure.

With that extra brightness in the sky (I hear it'd be about the same as a full moon, given our distance), do you think life would've formed differently? Would it have even been possible?

Once you get to where you are going, without all the city lights and the night sky is free and clear of clouds, look up and stare for a while (try not to look at your camp fire if you have one for up to 20 minutes or more, so your pupils open up and stay that way).

You'll see the stars, but you'll notice what looks like a faint, glowing, very thin and whispy cloud that stretches across the sky, generally from North to south.

Width of it will appear to be a couple of full moons wide.

That is our galaxy the Milkyway.

The "Rift" will be in the middle of this glowing area, running the length of it, and will appear to not have any of that glow it it. That's the dark dust hiding that part of the galaxy.

It won't look as impressive as you see in pictures, because your eyes can only gather dim light for up to 1/5 of a second, where as cameras can have their shutters open for many minutes to hours and gather more light so it appears brighter in pictures.

As for the center of our galaxy, look towards the constellation of Sagittarius (the tea pot), where the glow is there is the center of our galaxy. The further south (or closer to the equator you get) the higher in the sky this position will be.