A National Geographic photographer was once quoted as saying that you can’t photograph the Milky Way in the Eastern United states, and while I disagree whole-heartedly, I’ll give him that it is at least easier to photograph it out West. With less junk in the air and atmosphere, as well as a lot less light pollution, it certainly pops more. Case in point, this week’s Picture of the Week.

While Holly and I were waiting around on last week’s Picture of the Week to finish, Holly was looking around and says “What is this I’m seeing right here? Is that the Milky Way?”. Lo and behold, there it was in all its glory! Very visible to the naked eye (though not as clear as in this image), it was spectacular to see with no obstructions, almost from one end of the sky to the other.

As pretty as the Milky Way is… this creates a bit of a problem. I really wanted a star trail shot while we were out there, but I REALLY wanted a Milky Way photo. The problem is we only have one camera, and the moon will be coming up soon which (on the East Coast anyway), would make the Milky Way disappear from the night sky. What to do?? I immediately thought about abandoning the star trail shot in favor of the Milky Way shot (my camera was aiming away from the direction you see here… also, star trail shots that include the Milky Way tend to look messy in my opinion), but after looking at my watch, I figured I’d have enough time to do both. I ended up with about 15 good minutes of shooting before the full moon topped over the horizon. Here’s the interesting part though, an hour after the moon came up, you could still see the Milky Way with the naked eye in the sky! That part was truly amazing, and something definitely unique to drier climates with low light pollution. Really cool stuff!

–Dan Thompson