Earth/solar system attitude WRT galaxy

[MigL]

Recently watched a movie called Alpha ( about a boy and his dog ), set in Europe 20,000 yrs ago.
One scene shows the boy sleeping in a tree while the galactic firmament can be seen overhead.

My night vision isn't that good, but I can't see the galactic plane in the Northern hemisphere, and I understand it is only visible in the Southern hemisphere. And I realize this is a movie ( pre-historic people with good teeth ? ) and certain artistic liberties may have ben taken, but is it possible that the attitude of the Earth, and Solar system, with respect to the galactic plane, has changed ( turned upside down ) during the last 20,000 years ?

[StringJunky]

I've seen it where I live albeit only once when the night sky was exceptionally clear when I was night fishing a few years ago. You can see it in Canada as well.

This is what it looks like in Canada. Photos are always more contrasty because they can gather more light over time to make the image than our eyes can. 

This is from the UK and probably more realistic in that it's more wispy in appearance IRL.

Edited December 4, 2018 by StringJunky

[Strange]

5 hours ago, MigL said:

I understand it is only visible in the Southern hemisphere

Then why do we call it the Galaxy or Milky Way after the Ancient Greek and Latin (Via Lattea) names?

[DrP]

19 minutes ago, Strange said:

Then why do we call it the Galaxy or Milky Way after the Ancient Greek and Latin (Via Lattea) names?

I wouldn't put too much weight on their names...  I think the people who named them probably just named them nominally after their favourite chocolate bars.

[Carrock]

6 hours ago, MigL said:

And I realize this is a movie ( pre-historic people with good teeth ? )

Good research. In the bad old days hardly anyone had food that could destroy teeth.

[Strange]

But I think you can only see the galactic centre from the Southern Hemisphere.

1 hour ago, Carrock said:

Good research. In the bad old days hardly anyone had food that could destroy teeth.

True. Tooth decay was relatively rare, but wear from stone ground grains was more of a problem.

Although they would not have had the modern American obsessively straight and white teeth we see so often in movies!