dipper@utastro.UUCP (Debbie Byrd) (07/09/85)
Now that the moon is gone from the evening sky, you can look for the glittering summer Milky Way. More -- after this. July 9 Milky Way Watching On Tuesday, the moon is at last quarter -- meaning it'll appear in the sky only after midnight -- half-illuminated tonight -- and waning to become a slimmer crescent each night for the coming week. Since the moon is temporarily gone from the evening sky, this coming week is a good time to get out in the country for a look at the summer Milky Way. The Milky Way isn't as high up in the evening now as it'll be next month. But it's still possible to see it in a dark country sky -- looking like a broad vista of hazy light stretching between horizons -- really composed of countless stars in the plane of our Milky Way galaxy. If you do get a chance to see the summer Milky Way, try to contemplate the fact that you're really looking edgewise into the plane of the galaxy. If you bring along your binoculars, you can see some of the inhabitants of the galaxy -- some interesting sights besides just stars. It's easy to lie back with binoculars and scan the summer Milky Way -- and when you do, you'll discover a number of patchy areas along it -- sometimes true clusters of stars bound together by gravity -- and sometimes clouds of gas from which new stars are born. The summer Milky Way is easiest to see in the evening in the coming week -- when there's no moon in the sky. It'll be even prettier next month, when it'll have risen even higher in the evening sky. Script by Deborah Byrd. (c) Copyright 1984, 1985 McDonald Observatory, University of Texas at Austin