The heart of the Summer Milky Way sets in the trees.
Fox Islands, Maine.
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I spent an evening on this beautiful nature preserve called Lane’s Island, in Maine. What you’re seeing is the heart, the centre, of the galaxy we live in – the Milky Way – as I saw it in the sky. I photographed it with my DSLR on zoom as it moved across the night sky. The “orange clouds” are lots and lots of stars. The black streaks are other particles in our galaxy’s center that don’t emit light (“interstellar dust”). The pink jewel is the Lagoon nebula, light from a newborn star. All the diamond dust you see is stars.

There was such peace, solitude, silence, and beauty under the starry sky. The wonder of a clear dark sky away from the pollution of city lights and the non-stop hum of vehicles and people, was an absolute gift from Nature.

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Olympus EM1-III DSLM
40mm f/2.8 ISO 800
48 minutes worth of 2 min subs + darks, flats, flat darks.
Star Adventurer 2i pro with wireless intervalometer connected to the camera.
Processed in Pixinsight and Lightroom Classic.
Foreground shot at blue hour – 60s ISO100 f/2.8.
Blended using Photoshop Sky Replacement.