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How to view our Milky Way from your location

Sure, everyone has remembered the nights that you spend under the stars when you used to sleep on your terrace when you were a kid. But everyone has moved on from that views, but I did not. Chasing the stars is not our cup of tea, but viewing them was surely on my list.

I got to know more about the Galaxies and always wanted to view with my naked-eye. After perfection at studying how to view them, i finally got to go out and look at them.

Some tips on how to chose the best place and best time to view the Milky way galaxy with your naked-eye.

  1. As we are practically living in a technical world, get the SkyWalk 2 app on your mobiles (available on iOS and PlayStore) and if you want some serious into astronomy, get Photopills app (available on iOS and PlayStore) for 10$ which is excellent and accurate way that I recommend to plan for the sky shots.
  2. Check this site http://darksitefinder.com/maps/world.html and enter your desired location to see if you will be able to find any dark places.
  3. Check the weather before a day or two you plan to arrive because if the sky is cloudy you may not be able to view it good enough.

Milky Way shot by Shiva Nara on August 12 2017 from Enchanted Rock State Park, TX, USA.


I personally recommend getting that if you want to get a good spot where the light-pollution would be as least as possible, try to get into camping under a tent in a State park where you would feel comfortable and safe.

I traveled to Enchanted Rock State Park near Fredricksburg, Texas where there was a meteor shower on the night of Aug 12 2017 and the park was opened for visitors through out the night.
Make sure you arrive before hand as it gets filled and you won't be allowed if the parks are full during this kind of events.

The moment we were travelling on the road to Enchanted Rock, we already saw billions of stars from the car window, but once we got into the park it was around 9 PM CDT.

I opened the SkyWalk 2 app on my phone and was looking into the Sagittarius cloud - usually Milky way appears to sit in the Sagittarius cloud, and to my surprise I first saw a cloud with the sky all lit up by small stars. Then I keenly observed the cloud and it was the Milky way that I figured out and confirmed with the SkyWalk 2 app.

No later, I took my camera and tripod and set up the whole settings and began clicking as many pictures as I can. 

Slowly the time passes about an hour from 9 PM, the milky way started moving and we saw the full arc at 10:39 PM CDT. It was like a rainbow of stars in the sky - the view I will never ever forget.

To perfectly plan for the milky way time when to see the complete arc, follow below tips which will land you in the time frame accurately.

  • Go out on a New Moon day or where the moon phase is below 20-30% light, because if the moon is out in the sky then you will not be able to look the milky way cloud as moon lights up the whole sky.
  • Take a paper, and note the moon-rise and moon-set timings for the day you are visiting.
  • Also note the galactic-core rise and galactic-core set timings for the location you are visiting for the day.
  • Now, check the period of time where there is no moon and there is galactic-core in the sky.
Suppose, below was my perfect timing to view the Milky Way galaxy.

Moon-rise : 12:30 AM  Moon-set : 3:45 AM
Galactic-Core rise : 9:39 PM (before day)  Galactic-core set : 4:55 AM (the next day)

So technically, you will see the perfect milky way cloud between the time where there is galactic-core and where there will not be the moon.
SO my time of view was anytime between 9:39 PM (after the galactic-core will rise) to 12:30 AM (before moon-rise).

  • During that particular interval, you will see the total arc of our milky way and the best time to capture the Milky way shots in your gallery.
  • Galactic-core/Moon rise and set timings can be found on PhotoPills app or Google it as you are comfortable.
Get some snacks, drinks and sit-back chairs with some mosquito repellents to enjoy your best time under the stars.

Make wishes as you see falling stars, tell stories to your loved ones and more importantly your best spent time I can say!!


I will write up my next post on how to shoot the milky way using a DSLR camera.

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Location: Enchanted Rock, Texas 78643, USA

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