Is the solar system tilted sideways??

Do you ever think about how cool it is that someone on the opposite side of the earth from you is standing "upside down"--your feet facing their feet?

Or even when you travel from one US coast to another, you are standing at a ~45 degree tilt relative to how you were standing before.

I had thoughts like this swirling in my head during one moonless night on the pacific coast, as the campfire died down and our very own milky way galaxy came into view.

Hubble Ultra Deep Field

Today we're going to talk about what you can see and can't see when you look up into the night sky. Let's see where it takes us.

Step outside tonight and gaze into the heavens. Almost all of the lights you see up there are stars that are in our very own milky way galaxy. If you're like me, you live in a city and can't see but a handful of stars. So, thanks to the wonders of modern technology, here is what the sky looks like from the middle of the desert (definitely click on this to see the big version, definitely).