Milky Way Question

What percent of the Milky Way can I see with the naked eye
if I have 20-20 vision on any given night ?

This is not a homework question as I've been out of college
long ago. (^:

JM

 

That would depend on 1) where you live 2) what time of night 3) the current
rotation of the earth 4) how dark it is (how far out of the ciy you are) 5)
how up-to-date your eyeglass prescription is

 

try uk.sci.astronomy or similar newsgroup - me thinks this NS is for
computer help

 

Why would you think that? The group name is '24hoursupport.helpdesk'
there is no specific topic I can see mentioned.
<snip>

Me

 

You can see about 60% if the candy bar is lying on a table.

 

Depends on how many Beers you've had

 

Not in my house, I have 4 kids and my wifes favorite television show

 

Dark chocolate one?

 

Thanks Alan ! I'll try that group. But actually this group
24hoursupport.helpdesk is for almost any question out there.
I've answered lots of odd and non-computer questions here.
(TINH TINT)

ciao,

JM

 

Greetings...

Depends on who you talk to and how you define "what can I see"...

To answer your question I will reduce it to it's 2 extremes:

The Best resolution you can hope for under the best atmospheric viewing conditions
assuming you actually know and can distinguish what it is that you are looking at -

If you are looking in the direction of Sagittarius - You can see approx 0.15 % of the
(KNOWN) General mass of the Milky way Galaxy with the naked eye. However, you probably
won't realize it because most of what you are looking at is a blank black wall... The
number of stars or stellar masses that you can see as a percentage is significantly
smaller than that... Somewhat less that 1 millionth of a percentage point...

Remember that under the best conditions the average number of STARS that you can see on
a very clear night under the best conditions is measured in the single digit thousands..
There are an estimated hundred BILLION of stars in the Milky Way...

If you are looking away from Sagittarius - you are looking out of the Galaxy away from
the center - however you can actually see a bit more of the stellar mass than you can
looking in... A few hundredths of millionths of a percentage more than looking in because
it isn't as obscured. However, you are actually looking at less of the Galactic mass in
general - less than .0001 % of the General Galactic Mass....

Also, Much of what you see looking AWAY from Sagittarius may or may not actually be
within the Milky Way Galaxy...

Like I said, depends on who you talk to and what you consider as part of the Milky
Way... For example do you consider the 5 smaller companion galaxies as part of the Milky
Way? Where do you draw the line?

The opposite end extreme of your question "On any given night" is 0% It's cloudy and
you can't see anything....
LOL



ll
Kanda'

<>SPAM-KILLER<>- If you really want to contact me, then -
kandaje<at>bresnan<dot>net

You figure it out...

 

Thank you Kanda for the answer ! (^: I love bizarre trivia
like this stuff. Have a great day !

geothermal