The Milky Way by summer solstice night
June is the very interesting month of the year, here in the Czech Republic and northern countries around the world generally. While the season of visibility of the Noctilucent clouds is ongoing, the night sky is, actually, not dark. Due to location of our country on 50N of latitude the season around summer solstice gives very short nights, which are by definition not astronomical at all. The Sun is not lower than 18 degrees below the horizon and this situation usually takes from 31st May to 11th July. The most noticeable not-dark nights are around the solstice itself. This year the summer solstice occurs on 20th June when also the Full Moon will illuminate the night. So to feel non-astronomical night with the Milky Way in dark-bluish skies is the best right now or in the beginning of July. Looking north, you can even notice “swimming twilight“, slowly moving from after dusk from north-west to north-east to the dawn. People located even more north, closer to the pole (north US, Canada, Alaska, Scandinavia…) can notice the all-night dusk to white night. From about 67N to the north the Sun doesn’t set around the solstice time at all. This image was taken on 22nd June 2015 over Seč reservoir of the Czech Republic by an hour before the local midnight. Used Canon 6D Baader IR modified, Samyang 24 mm, f2.8, ISO 8000, 28×15 seconds.
