What can we see in this picture? (Milky way)

I took this picture here in Queenstown, New Zealand the other night and was wondering if anyone can maybe give me a little information as to what can actually be seen in the picture.. I know it's the Milky way, but is there anything that specific areas or groups of stars are? I have been searching all over the internet for a pictured map of what is in the sky but I just can't find anything that is a detailed picture like this, labeling interesting areas, star systems and possibly other galaxies... Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places, but I would appreciate any info or help in building a map of what we can see here It would be nice to actually be able to know more about this image!

I also see this post as a bit of fun and something maybe a few of you on here have wondered about too! I learn by visual examples and get a little lost when it's just a map of dots and lines and no true visual reference.. lol

Cheers ATS!

I can't help with telling what is what as I'm sure your star set up is different than USA set up, but I do have to reply to say if that is what is seen in the night sky in New Zealand, and NZ on its own is just so so so gorgeous scenery-wise, that's just more reason to move there.

Sadly I'll never have enough points to be allowed to move there Shame. It always has been my number one place to move. I'll have to settle for Aussie. Close enough I suppose, hehe.

That is a GORGEOUS pic and I hope someone on here will be able to help you out. I'm curious myself now. thank you so much for sharing. S&F for this gorgeous view.

a reply to: VexedSoul

I know it isn't great but google sky on my phone is really useful looking at the stars and stuff. Just point yourphone up and it tells you what the star is.
Maybe someone knows a more detailed version?.

I can't help, but damn that is beautiful. I sometimes want to SCREAM because I know I am so close to the new age of exploration, yet not close enough.

a reply to: boymonkey74

OOOOOH! Give Stellarium a try too; you can download it onto your pc if you have Windows. I'm sure it would work on Macs also? I totally forgot about Google Sky *been a long time since I had a droid. Been making due with a 15 dollar pay as you go phone, haha*

a reply to: OccamsRazor04

Yeah I think If we were born now we could have a decent chance of getting off world for a while....maybe I will jump in my freezer and leave a note saying "wake me when I can goto space" lol

originally posted by: boymonkey74
a reply to: OccamsRazor04



Yeah I think If we were born now we could have a decent chance of getting off world for a while....maybe I will jump in my freezer and leave a note saying "wake me when I can goto space" lol

Well within my lifetime "old age" will most likely be cured. I just don't hold any illusions I will be a recipient of the cure. I am in my 30's.

a reply to: VexedSoul

What we're looking at is essentially the centre of our galaxy.

The dark patches are interstellar dust clouds blocking star light.

a reply to: OccamsRazor04

Yeah pity Iam not a billionaire I would give you some magic anti ageing pixie dust
I hope you are right because then long distance space travel will be more viable...may take 100 years to get there but If we do not age we would just have to deal with the boredom.

a reply to: VexedSoul

You are looking straight at the core of our Milky Way Galaxy, which is in the direction of the teapot-shaped constellation Sagittarius

Like most spiral galaxies, there's a lot of dust in the plane of the disk.

Example (NGC4565):


The bad news is that this dust obscures the visible light from the core (though astronomers can see it using infrared and radio telescopes).

The good news is that this dust is the material cast-off from dying stars that will someday coalesce to form new planets.

Here is a brief article about a similar picture to yours and its implications.

Thank you for posting this beautiful picture. It reminds me of when I was 11 years-old. My Dad took me hiking to a lake high in the Sierras, where the stars from the Milky Way and Sagittarius above were perfectly reflected in the dark, still water below.

a reply to: VexedSoul

That's a truly amazing picture. How did you take such picture, may I ask?

a reply to: sarra1833

Haha no worries! I'm pretty sure Australia's more difficult to move to than NZ? A lot of people out here are getting their sponsorship in NZ and then going to Aus

Thank you! Was pleasantly surprised looking at the pictures when I got home It's truly wonderful just looking at the stars, especially getting away from that orange street-light glow!

originally posted by: Saint Exupery
a reply to: VexedSoul

You are looking straight at the core of our Milky Way Galaxy, which is in the direction of the teapot-shaped constellation Sagittarius

Like most spiral galaxies, there's a lot of dust in the plane of the disk.

Example (NGC4565):

The bad news is that this dust obscures the visible light from the core (though astronomers can see it using infrared and radio telescopes).

The good news is that this dust is the material cast-off from dying stars that will someday coalesce to form new planets.

Star for the first correct answer

a reply to: boymonkey74

Oh sweet, sure I'll check that out! Thanks for the reply!

a reply to: AlphaHawk

So that is the centre, awesome! Was just curious as to whether or not any known, interesting star systems were visible in the picture or maybe even distant galaxies.. Thanks for your reply!

a reply to: OccamsRazor04

Haha yeah me too, I'm always looking up and remembering how much more there is out there than our petty squabbles on this greedy little rock.. So peaceful

those are some excellent pictures.

Whats there?

Right now, this second? probably not much, a million years ago maybe some alien animals maybe a million ahead. Right now though, right this minute? probably nothing interesting.

See what everyone seems to forget [some what conveniently] is we exist in time as well as space, we only became interesting 20,000 years ago and only really interesting in the last 2k, put that on a 14 billion year map and its not a dot.

a reply to: JadeStar

Second actually.

But who's counting?!

originally posted by: AlphaHawk
a reply to: JadeStar

Second actually.

But who's counting?!

Yup! Beat me by 9 minutes. Star for you.

originally posted by: Biigs
those are some excellent pictures.

Whats there?

Right now, this second? probably not much, a million years ago maybe some alien animals maybe a million ahead. Right now though, right this minute? probably nothing interesting.

See what everyone seems to forget [some what conveniently] is we exist in time as well as space, we only became interesting 20,000 years ago and only really interesting in the last 2k, put that on a 14 billion year map and its not a dot.

Actually, most of the stars in the OP image are less than 5,000 light-years away; so in the time it's taken for the light to reach Earth, even the farthest of them have only traveled ~4 light years, and stars with planetary systems live for billions of years. So, "right now, this second" those stars are pretty much all still there and still burning bright.

For simplicity's sake, astronomers and others who work with cosmic distances (such as the engineers who guide space probes) use the present tense. For them, Supernova 1987a happened 27 years ago, not 168,027 years ago. When I was at JPL for the Viking 2 landing, they were counting down the final minutes to landing. Some smart-ass 12 year-old (me) pointed-out that the probe was already down, one way or another, and we were just waiting on the signal. That earned me an eye-roll from the tech in our viewing area.

a reply to: Saint Exupery

While you might be correct, since we cant travel faster than light and in actual fact we cant get close to that anyway, lets say we could for a second, that means aliens that might have heard our signals are a max of 200 light years away, which considering the size and diversity of the universe its unlikely that there is in fact intelligent life within that range....

pretty damn unlikely and lets say that 200 light years away there is some light speed travel life, it would take them 200 years to get here.

Just pointing out the obvious time issues relating to massive spans of space and awareness.

Its like the wow signal, if we got a 100% assured real alien signal from some distant star, while its very nice to know we arnt alone the chances we can get there or them to us is completely unrealistic.