The author photographed against the Milky Way background at Lastovo island starlight reserve in Croatia. Due to tight controls against light pollution, this island is attracting astronomers from all over Europe to enjoy its pristine skies.

The Milky Way is the name of our own galaxy, home to the earth and the rest of the planets in the solar system. It is thought to contain around 200 billion stars, one of which is our own sun. Almost everything we can see in the night sky forms part of the Milky Way galaxy.

Although most of the stars in the Milky Way (from the Latin via lactea and in Maltese known as It-Triq ta’ Sant’Anna u San Ġwakkin) are not visible from the earth, on a clear dark night, we can see around 2,000 stars with the naked eye. However, from an urban location you may be lucky to see 20, because light pollution has erased our views of the Milky Way from city centres.

One has to go to remote places such as the cliffs at Dingli, Imtaħleb, Fomm ir-Riħ or other areas along the northwest coast of Malta to be able to witness this band of starlight containing an immense number of stars.

The Milky Way is a spiral galaxy which is in constant motion like everything else in the universe. It takes about 250 million years for it to complete one rotation.

Our solar system is located out towards the edge of the Milky Way, and to look into the direction of the centre of the galaxy you simply need to look towards the constellation Sagitarius.

This month, this constellation will be visible towards the south at around 10pm. It is much easier to see if you head away from bright lights and look out towards the sea.

American astronomer Harlow Shapley was the first person who 95 years ago estimated the size of the Milky Way galaxy, as well as our position within the galaxy itself.

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Astronomical events in September

Alexei Pace is president of the Astronomical Society of Malta.