What would the night sky look like for a world on the upper plane of the galaxy, near its rim?

I would like to include a world in a story that is located on the upper plane (or bottom, doesn't matter, but call it upper for the sake of reference) of the galaxy. If you think of the galaxy as a cookie, the world is on top near the rim, not in the middle of the cookie.

I could imagine that inhabitants on the northern half (call it the "top" or the furthest away from the center galactic plane) would experience a nearly perfectly dark night sky (ignoring moons) other than, pretty much, other galaxies.

I could also imagine the inhabitants of the southern half (call it the "bottom" or the closest to the center galactic plane) would see the galaxy (if rotation were in the right position) as a tear drop, with the brightest part near the horizon and the darkest part of the tear "straight up."

For reference, we Terrans see the galaxy as a band in the sky, I suspect because we're in the middle of the cookie.

My question: am I right to imagine the night sky for this planet? As I said, ignoring any moons, dark but other galaxies (very sparse "starlight") on top, and a teardrop view of the galaxy on the bottom (if rotated correctly) or a smattering of stars and galaxies (if not rotated correctly)?

What I'm hoping not to hear is, "Nope, your planet would need to be a bazillion miles above the plane of the galaxy to get a view like that..."

posted about 6 years ago

JBH‭

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