Yes, you can see the Milky Way

How big is the Milky Way

The Milky Way Galaxy is our home in the existing Univers, it is a barred spiral galaxy 100,000‐120,000 light-years in diameter containing 200‐400 billion stars and at least as many planets including our solar system. The galactic center is named Sagittarius A and its belived to hold a supermassive black hole with an estimated mass of 4.1‐4.5 million times the mass of our Sun.

The name comes from its appearance as a dim glowing milky band arching across the night sky. The term Milky Way is a translation from Latin via lactea and Greek milky circle as seen from inside.

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Milky Way facts

• How old is the Milky Way?

  Milky Way Galaxy is approximately 13.7 billion years old, almost as the Universe itself. The age is determined by taking the age of the stars in the Milky Way.

• Stars in the Milky Way

  The Milky Way contains at least 100 billion stars and may have up to 400 billion stars. The exact number is not known.

• Milky Way from Earth

  Earth, along with the Solar System, is situated in the Milky Way galaxy, orbiting about 28,000 light years from the center of the galaxy.

For more information visit Wikipedia.

Can you see the Milky Way from Earth at night with the naked eye?

In fact, the Milky Way is one of the most interesting naked eye sights in the night sky. However, it's not bright, and it's not always well placed to be seen. So to see the Milky Way from Earth you will have to meet the following requirements:
‐ Dark skies, no moonlight, no city lights, no headlights, basically as far as you can from any artificial lights. The best viewing site is from the middle of the ocean either northern hemisphere or southern hemisphere being so far away from the artificial city lights.
‐ No telescopes, no binoculars, (just eyeglasses if you're near sighted) and at least one eyeball.
‐ Best atmospheric conditions, a misty sky wouldn't block it completely, nor would humidity. It would make it not as sharp, but still visible.
‐ Give your eyes at least 10 minutes to adapt to the darkness though. Your eyes will become more sensitive to low light level.
‐ A little bit of timing in late summer or winter evenings.

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Where can i see the Milky Way from Earth?

• Milky Way Northern Hemisphere

  Summer
  Date	Time
  Oct 14	8 PM
  Sep 29	9 PM
  Sep 14	10 PM
  Aug 30	11 PM
  Aug 15	12 AM
  Jul 31	1 AM
  Jul 16	2 AM

  Winter
  Date	Time
  Feb 10	8 PM
  Jan 25	9 PM
  Jan 10	10 PM
  Dec 26	11 PM
  Dec 12	12 AM
  Nov 26	1 AM
  Nov 11	2 AM

• Milky Way Southern Hemisphere

  Winter
  Date	Time
  Apr 8	8 PM
  Mar 24	9 PM
  Mar 9	10 PM
  Feb 21	11 PM
  Feb 5	12 AM
  Jan 22	1 AM
  Jan 7	2 AM

  Summer
  Date	Time
  Aug 28	8 PM
  Aug 12	9 PM
  Jul 28	10 PM
  Jul 12	11 PM
  Jun 27	12 AM
  Jun 13	1 AM
  May 29	2 AM

• The summer Milky Way will look brighter. Most noticeably you should be able to see the Great Rift in good dark skies. This dark lane in the Milky Way between Cygnus and Scutum is where a string of dense interstellar clouds block the view of more distant stars. At longer wavelengths in the infrared, light passes through these clouds more easily and we get a better view of the overall shape of our Galaxy, but there are still enough clouds created a dark reddened lane through the middle of the Milky Way.