It’s amazing what you can see in the dark…

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 35mm f/2D | Manual Mode, shot in RAW. 13 sec exposure @ f/2.0, ISO 1600 // ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

This is what we saw this summer. I’ve never seen this (above) before in my life. 
And I may not have ever noticed it in my lifetime, had I not been blessed with these amazing kids ♥

This photo is our view of an “arm” of the Milky Way galaxy that we are in. Our Milky Way galaxy is huuuuuuuuge, over 100,000 light years in diameter, home to billions of stars, BILLIONS! Our little Sun and Solar System are just a teeny, tiny, piece of it all. And I know all of this because of my boys. My boys are fascinated by space and science. They want to know all about every planet, star, sun, and moon. What are they, what do they do, what are they like, how did they get there… the questions are never ending, lol!

So to find the answers to all of these questions, we love reading about space, watching the Science channel, and star-gazing as a family. We will often go out (even past bedtime!) and admire a beautiful night sky. I like to bring my camera, and the kids bring their telescope. We have had great adventures in the dark!

I had attempted to photograph this scene earlier in the summer, but like with anything else, it takes practice (as well as a little cooperation from the elements). I learned that in order to photograph this “milky” band, you have to have a clear, dark summer sky. No moon, no haze, and no light pollution (city lights/streetlights). And this summer we’ve had a lot of humidity and cloudy night skies, so I wasn’t sure I would be able to get it. But this particular evening was magical! We could clearly see the milky white band of gasses and stars, and the dark spots of the galactic plane. So we set out on on one of our adventures to capture this image.

My husband held a small flashlight for me while I tried to assemble a tripod and camera in the dark (pitch black!). I tried to remember the settings I used last time, then triggered the camera, and told everyone to “freeze”. Even the slightest camera shake on a long exposure would just ruin this shot. And then it happened, the first image popped up on the back of my camera, and we all exploded in “WOW”! The camera had picked up so many more lights and stars than our eyes could ever see. It was AMAZING. Breathtaking. And so much fun.

We spent a lot of time in this section of the library this summer :)

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