Since the first image I shared that featured the Cygnus end of the Milky Way, I have been captivated with the fiery-looking portion of our home galaxy.  In this image, you’ll recognize it directly above the cantilever barn, flanked by the Great Lacerta nebula, which I talked about a few weeks ago (as well as shared a detailed image of the object if you’d like to see it).  As I considered how unique the cantilever barn is to our little part of the country, I appreciated also the uniqueness of Cygnus in our sky.

Since my earlier attempts at capturing this structure at night, I’ve always struggled with how to properly light it.  If you’ve been there, you’ll know it sits in a hole in the woods, and a small bend in the valley, keeping it in shadow unless the moon is bright.  For this attempt, I used a later-rising moon to my advantage; essentially gathering the sky data first, and then shooting the foreground portion once the full moon had risen above the neighboring mountains enough to at least illuminate the surrounding woods somewhat.  I added to this with my own lights, shining through the central part of the barn, illuminating what’s left of an old horse-drawn buggy.  You’ll notice the light shooting out from the back on the left, which is a very bright light that I carry with me.  I don’t often get spooked, but there’s a small brook that runs through the woods in that directions that was making all sorts of interesting sounds – and I swear I heard something sizeable walking around over there.  Haha, it was probably a squirrel or something, but in any case, I liked the outcome in the image as it gave shape to that side of the barn.

More next week!

–Dan Thompson