JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

My back yard is surrounded by trees which means my observing the sky is mostly straight up. There is no such thing as views of the lower portions of the sky.

Here is a shot of the Milky Way in the vicinity of the 3 bright stars of summer: Vega, Deneb and Altair. Situated between Deneb and Altair, in the darker part of the Milky Way is the Coathanger Cluster. Named because it looks like a coathanger.

Taken using a Sony A99 (full frame sensor) and a Tamron 24-70mm at 24mm and F2.8. The ISO was 1600 and the shutter speed was 15 sec. The WB was incandescent. Shot in RAW. One thing I really like about using this lens is that there is no blooming of the bright stars.

This image was reduced in size from 6000 x 4000 to 4500 x 3000 resulting in some reduction of noise. Image adjusted with Lightroom and NIK Viveza2 which was used to improve the contrast from light to dark areas.

I also tried stacking the Milky Way. Stacking this object does not work. The lighter areas get way to light, and you end up with a mess.

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

Oops, mislabeled. The stars Vega and Deneb were incorrectly mislabeled. I have corrected here.

Corrected labels

(Download)

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

Beautiful, Jim!
I wish my backyard was as dark.

It was amazing to look through my telescope at Cassiopeia in the desert.
The "neighboring" stars were awash in the field of view.
Sadly, I did not do much picture taking with the telescope. In fact, while fiddling with my head down, I missed the meteor of the trip (8/12-13) as cheers erupted across the campgrounds. :roll:

I'm envious of your Dark Sky, even if the trees do limit your view. :mrgreen:

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

Thanks Sonny,
I finally saw 3 meteors last night while I was out. None of them captured by the camera of course.
My sky is darker than nearby San Jose, but its not that dark. It is much better up in the hills above me by Lake Anderson and beyond, but there is no good place to park unless I drive the 10 mile road up to the Henry Coe State Park and pay their usage fee. They have a gravel parking lot with a great view of the night sky and is situated at about 3000 feet. And an occasional Mountain Lion to keep you company also.

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

The Perseid's I did catch were not by looking for them, but by having my camera running with an Intervalometer. ;)

I am fortunate to have the Angeles National Forest at my "back door", and a few darker spots that I have found but a handful of miles up the road from me.
And this week I found the greatest advantage to my Senior Advantage Pass to gain fee-free access to Joshua Tree National Park.
But having the pass (available to anyone 62 or older for $10) also allows me to access anywhere along the roads in the National Forests. (Some of the least light polluted skies available to me)
So that might be a direction to look for you?
Although it appears to not be that close for you www.fs.fed.us%25252Frecreation%25252Fmap%25252Fxca_nv_south.html&source=iu&pf=m&fir=NzMeMLadBsqYVM%253A%252CzrfZ-vwuljN8UM%252C_&biw=1237&bih=691&usg=__XR-fkt6FjniDizxRo90E5nY2EIY%3D&ved=0CDMQyjdqFQoTCO3ph86qq8cCFU4tiAod4BgNYg&ei=Q1HPVa28Nc7aoATgsbSQBg#imgrc=dG-thSVoRoq7CM%3A&usg=__XR-fkt6FjniDizxRo90E5nY2EIY%3D" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">HERE.

hettmoe Loc: Rural ND

That's a nice photo, Jim!

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

Thank you hettmoe.

Bloke Loc: Waynesboro, Pennsylvania

That is my position too. I go to a forest clearing halfway up a mountain (not much of a mountain...). The clearing is just off one of the only 2 roads up to the town on top, so early evening you often get headlights zooming by. When I have been out there late, I have spent hours without seeing anyone at all.

The sky straight up is about as dark as I have seen anywhere on the East coast, but like you, I have no visible horizon. Probably a 30 degree limit all round, at a guess.

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

They say that from the bottom of a deep enough well you can see stars in the daytime.
Maybe the trees make a similar effect by blocking out the peripheral light?

Bloke Loc: Waynesboro, Pennsylvania

Probably something like that. There is a town on top, probably only a mile or so from my spot. There are occasional houses in the woods too, but I haven't seen any within a mile or so. The biggest thing is, at the bottom of the road - probably 3 or 4 miles down - is a big Wallmart/Home Depot mall, with all the gazillions of lights in the huge parking lots between them. Unless there are clouds passing by, I don't get any problem with reflecting lights. Unfortunately, this is directly to the South of me, so where there *is* haze or cloud around, it catches and reflects the light badly.

The advantage is, I can do my shopping on the way home! I was in Wallmart at 3:15 one morning, and I was the only customer there! Of course, I had to struggle to find someone to man the cash register for me, but still...

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

Great shot Jim.
Craig

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

I did some playing with Deep Sky Stacker and here are 14 lights and 6 darks taken with a Tamron 24-70 at 24mm & F2.8.

MilkyWay Stack

(Download)