When to see the Milky Way in Oregon on Memorial Day weekend
The Milky Way will be visible across the United States Memorial Day weekend, but will Oregonians be able to see it?
The billions of stars comprising our home galaxy should appear especially vibrant in late-May as the band arcs across the night sky. The reason has much to do with the cycle of the moon, but it also has to do with how high in the sky the Milky Way should appear from our perspective here on Earth, specifically in the United States.
Here's everything to know about our Milky Way, including how to see the stunning natural phenomenon.
The Milky Way is our home galaxy with a disc of stars that spans more than 100,000 light-years. Because it appears as a rotating disc curving out from a dense central region, the Milky Way is known as a spiral galaxy.
Our planet itself is located along one of the galaxy's spiral arms, about halfway from the center, according to NASA.
The Milky Way sits in a cosmic neighborhood called the Local Group that includes more than 50 other galaxies. Those galaxies can be as small as a dwarf galaxy with up to only a few billion stars, or as large as Andromeda, our nearest large galactic neighbor.
The Milky Way got its name because from our perspective on Earth, it appears as a faint band of light stretching across the entire sky.
While the Milky Way is generally always visible from Earth, certain times of year are better for stargazers to catch a glimpse of the band of billions of stars comprising our galaxy.
"Milky Way season," when the galaxy's bright center becomes easier to see from Earth, typically runs from February to October, according to Milky Way photography website Capture the Atlas. However, the best time to see the Milky Way in the Northern Hemisphere is from March to September.
And for several days in May, the Milky Way may be even more visible than usual.
The peak days to view the Milky Way are now to May 30, according to science news website LiveScience. That's the period between the last quarter moon and the new moon, when skies should be darker.
Those who live in the Northern Hemisphere, which includes the entire continental United States, could have spectacular views of the Milky Way on clear nights with a new moon.
Typically, the sky is darkest between about midnight and 5 a.m., according to Capture the Atlas.
Stargazers can observe the Milky Way galaxy by looking for the Summer Triangle, "a shape formed by three bright stars" that spans across the Milky Way, according to LiveScience.com.
In the Northern Hemisphere, the Milky Way rises in the southeast, travels across the southern sky and sets in the southwest, according to Weather.com.
Between May 23-25, Oregon is predicted to have mostly clear skies, with a 2-40% chance of cloud cover beginning at 11 p.m., according to the National Weather Service.
Spectators will have the best luck on cloud-free nights and in locations away from city light pollution.
DarkSky International maintains a website that lists all designated dark sky communities around the world, including 159 locations in the U.S.
Oregon has a total of seven dark sky places that may provide the best visibility of the Milky Way galaxy, including:
Oregon Outback, eastern Lake County - International Dark Sky Sanctuary
Sisters - International Dark Sky Community
Antelope - International Dark Sky Community
Prineville Reservoir State Park - International Dark Sky Park
Cottonwood Canyon State Park - International Dark Sky Park
Oregon Caves National Monument and Preserve: International Dark Sky Park
Sunriver - International Dark Sky Development of Distinction
The next new moon is May 26, according to the website TimeAndDate.
Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com
Ginnie Sandoval is the Oregon Connect reporter for the Statesman Journal. Sandoval can be reached at GSandoval@gannett.com or on X at @GinnieSandoval.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Can you see Milky Way in Oregon? How to watch on Memorial Day weekend
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