Milky Way, east to west: Comments

The brightness is about right, but I don't see as much contrast visually. I certainly don't see as much dark nebula, and of course no color. You should probably run it through a monochrome filter.

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WOW!

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this view I took with a SLR on a tripod and a 20mm lens at GSSP 2008 is pretty close to what I see naked eye at a dark site..
http://picasaweb.google.com/jhn.pierce/GSSP2008#slideshow/5220123380107896642

the dark lanes are there but very indistinct to the eye. on your 'visual' they are just way too evident

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Peter and John - thanks for your feedback. I will probably tweak the image a bit more keeping your comments in mind.

Tamara, I agree :-) I think the Milky Way is the most "wow object" one can see from a dark site indeed!

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Your photos are a pleasure.

I've been to two dark places, just north of San Simeon (Hearst Castle), midwinter, and a good piece northeast of Auburn at a little lake toward Tahoe called Big Reservoir, just a few weeks ago.

The first place I mentioned was a dark gray area on the light pollution map (see http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c322/manley620/global_northam_Vb.jpg) and the second was blue.

In each of these places, and in the "yellow" area an hour west of my house in Indianapolis, IN, I saw the sky very much as in your mouseover photo.

The only difference is that the dark patches in the milky way in the photo aren't as contrasting and dark. In fact, it is the rest of the night sky that is that black, with pinpoints of light instead of an overall grayish hue.

I think this would be inspiring -- maybe enough to get some more buddies on my next new moon trip! Love your work -- keep it coming.

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This photo was very close to what I saw on the same night September 18th, & 19th 2009 in Bar Harbor, Maine. I thought there was a more navy background with the glow being a mellow brightness with prominent stars. The brightness of the stars being of high quality diamonds in the sky. The time before that I saw the Milky Way was near Fairbanks, Alaska in the middle of winter about 20 years ago and the band was seemingly more prominent in the sky. Your photo is beautiful...I would love to be able to see the Milky way more, however, living in Alaska there are more clouds in the winter. We are at a disadvantage and can only see the stars in the winter due to having midnight sun in the summer, and in the winter it is too cold to stand outside to look at stars. The Milky Way, never the less is a stunning sight to see, worth the effort if you are in the right place at the right time.

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