Best Northern Hemisphere Milky Way Viewing in 2013: Next 2 Weeks

Since our solar system is way out in a spiral arm of the Milky Way, the brightest part from our vantage point is towards the more dense galactic center.  Due to the tilt of the earth's axis as we rotate around the sun, not only is the sun higher in the sky in the Summer for Northern Hemisphere viewers, but also our view towards this much brighter portion of the Milky Way gets much better in the weeks before and after the June 21 Summer solstice.

In the Spring it can take the galactic center of the Milky Way a little time to rise above the horizon so you may not see it until early morning, but the rise time gets earlier every month.  Sunset varies with your position on the earth, but in general by July it's coming up by the time stars are visible in the sky after sunset.  (Of course if you're near or above the Arctic Circle, you don't have night this time of year, so your'e out of luck.)

The brightness of the moon interferes with visibility of the Milky Way, so the best viewing is within a few days before or after the new moon, when the moon is not visible or a slim crescent, and it appears close to the sun in our sky so it is not visible in the night sky.  

The new moon this July will be July 8, so the best Milky Way viewing dates in 2013 (for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere south of the Arctic Circle) arguably would be July 4 – 12.  In the July 6-9 time frame the moon won't be in the night sky at all.  When it's visible at all, it'll only be visible as a slim crescent during twilight hours.

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The Milky Way in the Eastern Sierra in August

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