Last Friday evening was a calm, clear evening.  I checked my PhotoPills app, my nighttime photo planning tool, and saw that the Milky Way would be prime, running from south-southwest straight overhead to north-northeast.  The moon wouldn’t be rising until after midnight.  So, I decided to try to capture the Milky Way.  Because Traverse City is northwest of my location and would cause lots of light pollution, I decided to look to the southwest.  Sunset was about 8:30.  As you can see from the photo below, there was a bit of color along the horizon, but not much in the sky.

I knew I wouldn’t be able to see any stars for a while, so I waited.  Finally, about 10:30 I started to see signs of the milky way.  However, it took a while longer before I could get a photograph.  As you can see in the image below, even with the camera pointed away from TC, there is a lot of light in the sky near the horizon.  Still, I was able to capture the Milky Way, a lot of stars, and even an airplane.

It was a great evening to be out looking at the sky.  Now, if I could get everyone in Thompsonville to turn off their lights ….

Mark