The Great Rift is a dark swath in the Milky Way
The Great Rift or Dark Rift is a darkened swath of the Milky Way where new stars are forming. It's best seen from a rural location away from light pollution. The post The Great Rift is a dark swath in the Milky Way first appeared on EarthSky .
The Great Rift is a dark band of interstellar clouds that passes through the Milky Way and the Summer Triangle asterism. This dark swath is visible in the night sky, especially under moonless conditions far from city lights. The Milky Way is our home galaxy, consisting of an estimated 100 to 400 billion stars. The Great Rift is not a void; it is a region of star-forming clouds that darkens the starry band of the Milky Way when viewed from Earth.
Ancient cultures in Central and South America, Aboriginal Australian groups, and others have associated various mythological meanings with the dark areas in the Milky Way, including constellations, ancestral spirits, and natural phenomena. A dark sky free of light pollution is essential for observing the Great Rift, which appears as dark lanes running along the Milky Way from a Northern Hemisphere location in June to October, and from the Southern Hemisphere more overhead.
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