See the Orion arm or spur? That's area would be home to our solar system.
That’s an amazing shot. Can you really see the whole galaxy with the naked eye? Is it really curved?
Shots,like,that most often are composites. I was looking for an explanation, but didn’t see one.
From the photographer’s website, astropics.com:
Pacholka said he employs simple techniques and does nothing extraordinary to get his shots. He uses a standard 50mm lens mounted on a tripod, and points a small flashlight on nearby desirable rocks and other land features he wants to stand out in the photo.
He allowed that his digital camera has a light-gathering power that is in some instances more than 50,000 times greater than a typical daylight camera setting. Pacholka runs his exposures anywhere from a few seconds to a minute. But he doesn’t consider himself a guru.
“This is something the average person could do, absolutely,” he said.
Not in many inhabited places, not any more. :’o I can see it here.
See the Orion arm or spur? That's area would be home to our solar system.
The Milky Way is a flat disc like the solar system. Yet the Sun and the planets all trace out an arch as they cross the sky. Both actually wrap around the planet as a complete ring structure.
Both the plane of the SS and the MW are fixed against the background stars and constellations. They run at a fixed 60-deg angle to each other. The plane of the SS is called the ecliptic plane. The plane of the MW is called the galactic plane. Our SS is roughly 3/4s of the way out from the center of the galaxy. This is why the angle of the galactic plane appears to change its orientation as the Earth spins during the course of the night.
I found this excellent graphic which illustrates the situation as we perceive it...
Looks like the panarama feature In the camera caused the bend in the camera. Weird though
It curves because it rises and sets by the time of night. If it didn’t curve in a Panorama shot, it would be a circle in the actual sky. One edge to the other in the photo is the beginning to the end of the time of night.
Btw, the answer to your question about seeing the entire galaxy from earth using the unaided eye is, no we can’t. Just as we cannot see the entire earth while standing on earth. But it sure would be a great view if we could.