This was THE VERY FIRST successful image I've taken of the Milky Way Galaxy core arm as it was just rising after getting sufficiently dark. All my other efforts were too dark to see anything except the brightest stars. A couple of aircraft were flying by near the bottom of the image and I captured a meteor on the right side.

The Last Chance Desert is due North of Capitol Reef National Park located near Torrey, Utah, USA. We are very privileged to have dark sky locations in our state. This one is only 166 miles ( 267 km) from my home and is great for peaceful pondering of the cosmos.

A new moon phase is coming up in just over a week!

Inexpensive tripod, used Canon DSLR, used 14MM Rokinon lens, f 2.8, 20 seconds.

Color/contrast lite editing