How does one see a band of the Milky Way with their naked eye?

Question

How can i see a band of the Milky Way Galaxy with my naked eye? Would i have to be in an extremely secluded area with next to no light polution in order to observe the brilliance of thousands of stars and even our own galaxy with my naked eye? If you go on youtube and search "milky way death valley" you can see what im talking about and there will be other videos next to it showing the same thing, how can i see the galaxy and stars like that? because where i live, when i look up in the sky i see a pitch black void with a handful of stars. Would i have to be in a secluded area with basically no light pollution?

Answer 1

Most people's view of the Milky Way is blocked by local light pollution. Most of us need to travel to a dark site to see it. I'm lucky enough to live 7 km outside a small village (1000 people) and can see it every clear night. I'm only 140 km away from a city of 7 million people, but my site is quite dark.

Answer 2

You are correct.  Although I've never had the pleasure of seeing it for myself I understand that far away from any city light pollution and on a clear Moonless night the Milky Way is very pronounced.  Like you I live too close to civilization for a good view of the sky.  I have to drive several miles in order to get an unobstructed view of the sky devoid of trees and buildings.  I have often done so to watch the ISS go over, but although I could see the horizon the Milky Way is still not visible.

.

Answer 3

YES! Because the brightness of city lights obscures the light coming from the stars! And it has to be a moonless night!

Answer 4

Yes.  You need very little light pollution.  

Look at this light pollution map. You need to be in a green area or darker.  The blue and black areas are darkest, the white is brightest.

http://astroforecast.org:8080/cgi-bin/ma...

Answer 5

The milky way is visible anywhere as long as you get a moonless night with lttle light pollution. You don't need to drive the the mountains in get it, but you would see it a lot better in a secluded area.