Depictions of the Milky Way found in ancient Egyptian imagery

I saw the best Milky Way of my life while driving from Las Vegas to Phoenix on a summer night. My friend’s car had a sunroof, but I had my eyes on the road so I hadn’t noticed. At some point the guy sitting at the back points up and goes “is that the Milky Way??” And my friend who was on the passenger seat goes “you know the sunroof is tinted right?” It was SO BRIGHT! We stopped the car, went out and stayed there a good half hour just staring up, one of the best memories of my first trip to the US.

Not surprising if you&#x27;ve ever had a good look at the Milky Way from the wilderness or countryside. Growing up in well-lit suburbs, I didn&#x27;t see the Milky Way until I went backpacking in the granite domes of the Sierra Nevadas.<p>This is an experience that I&#x27;d recommend everyone to experience at least once if you haven&#x27;t. The memory is still burned in my lind, a canvas full of stars and the hazy stream of the galaxy stretching from horizon to horizon.<p>Here is a nifty tool for finding areas with low light pollution near you, which coincidentally are typically home to observatories.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.lightpollutionmap.info&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.lightpollutionmap.info&#x2F;</a>

This shouldn&#x27;t be surprising to anybody who has spent time outside away from light pollution. Living in a rural area it is clearly and obviously visible every night when there isn&#x27;t clouds.

Published in the Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.sciengine.com&#x2F;JAHH&#x2F;doi&#x2F;10.3724&#x2F;SP.J.140-2807.2025.01.06" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.sciengine.com&#x2F;JAHH&#x2F;doi&#x2F;10.3724&#x2F;SP.J.140-2807.202...</a>

The article is actually about the link between Nut and the Milky Way - and not that anyone is surprised that ancient Egyptians could see the Milky Way.

Seeing the Milky Way and thousands of stars in all colors and brightnesses, sparking and not, is my favorite non-social memory of all time.<p>Nothing like lying on that bench on the Peloponnese in Greece in the summer. You could watch it for 2h and not get bored. Shooting stars, satellites... it was colorful and humbling.

I thought that the Milky Way was to the ancient Egyptians a representation of the Nile and that the great pyramids are the band of stars in Orion. Maybe that is a cooky theory but not that unlikely that a perplexed person from 4000 years ago things the same as a confused person today.

This is easily understood in the context of ancient nights with no light pollution, and fewer distractions. Regrettably, I think some people will frame it in a way to try to support theories of ancient lost technology, alien influence, or similar scientifically and epistemologically unsound narratives.

&gt; However, on the outer coffin of Nesitaudjatakhet, a chantress of Amun-Re who lived some 3,000 years ago, Nut&#x27;s appearance deviates from the norm. Here, a distinctive, undulating black curve crosses her body from the soles of her feet to the tips of her fingers, with stars painted in roughly equal numbers above and below the curve.<p>&gt; Dr. Graur said, &quot;I think that the undulating curve represents the Milky Way and could be a representation of the Great Rift—the dark band of dust that cuts through the Milky Way&#x27;s bright band of diffused light. Comparing this depiction with a photograph of the Milky Way shows the stark similarity.&quot;<p>The stars around the arch are strange. As far as I know, the discovery that the Milky Way consists of stars was made only much later, after the invention of the telescope.

Egyptian: Draws stars along a line Conspiracist: Rubbing hands together

The milky way and zodiac from the Bible 2000 years ago... Revelations 22: Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month.