HUNGARIAN SKIES 

TREASURES OF THE SUMMER MILKY WAY

The Milky Way

The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains our Solar System. The descriptive "milky" is derived from the appearance from Earth of the galaxy – a band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye. 

Galactic Center

The Galactic Center is the rotational center of the Milky Way. The estimates for its location range from 25,000 to 28,000 lightyears from Earth in the direction of the constellations Sagittarius, Ophiuchus, and Scorpius where the Milky Way appears brightest. There is strong evidence consistent with the existence of a supermassive black hole at the Galactic Center of the Milky Way.

Interstellar clouds

An interstellar cloud is the generic name given to an accumulation of gas, plasma, and dust in our and other galaxies. Put differently, an interstellar cloud is a denser-than-average region of the interstellar medium. Depending on the density, size, and temperature of a given cloud, the hydrogen in it can be neutral, ionized, or molecular. Neutral and ionized clouds are sometimes also called diffuse clouds, while molecular clouds are sometimes also referred to as dense clouds.

About the images

The photos presented here were all made during a visit in my home country in Hungary. 10-15km south to the Lake Balaton along a newly built road through the countryside I could find a real "dark-sky location" where the milky way center was visible till the horizon. On the 18th of June -one of the shortest night of the year- it was possible to observe the beautiful constellations of the summer night sky and the related deep-sky objects. A perfect occasion for astrophotography...