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Jazzlike-Outcome711 t1_jbzzyda wrote

Can you see the Milky Way like this with the naked eye?

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Melodic-Way34 t1_jc0j87z wrote

There are dark sky reserves in Canada at least and it almost looks like this, it feels like you're falling off the face of the earth when you look up at the sky at 3am

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ProjectDv2 t1_jc1pkna wrote

Yes, if you can get far enough away from urban areas, haze, and light pollution.

When I was younger I used to get away to extremely rural areas in the summer and lay in the middle of a back road on the warm asphalt, staring at the sky for hours. After my eyes adjusted, I could see the Milky Way and various gaseous formations. I haven't seen them in years now, it makes me really sad.

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phosphenes t1_jc3qpdy wrote

No, it doesn't look much like this to the naked eye. Even in very dark sky areas, the Milky Way looks a lot fainter than this and the colors are basically invisible. Here's a photographer simulating what it would look like, and that matches my experience.

On the other hand, time lapse night sky photos never do a good job capturing just how many stars there are far from the cities. It's wild, and everyone needs to experience it.

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kinsten66 t1_jc1cjrh wrote

I see this question a lot. Are you always asking them? Lol

But seriously, I have only ever really seen black with white dots of various groupings with the naked eye.

Then realized recently I have a stimitism, which makes looking at stars without glasses very gnarly.

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Jazzlike-Outcome711 t1_jc6lgs0 wrote

Haha. First timer for me. I get as far out as possible from civilization and I have never seen any color like this. See lots of stars but no color. Might have to give this new phone a try.

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