A pleasant end to summer's Milky Way season

An exceptionally clear Bortle 4 sky, cool temperatures and no wind allowed for a pleasant evening of Milky Way imaging last night. I opted to go for a horizon to zenith shot, taking 300 photos and using the best 225 of them to produce a single image. The corn and soybean harvest is underway here, with combines using floodlights to operate at night. I would occasionally have to stop what I was doing when lights from a combine a couple miles away would shine in my direction. The atmosphere was so clear 10x50 binoculars showed spectacular, dense clusters of stars that looked like clouds.

Canon 6D MKII DSLR and Tamron 19-35mm lens at 19mm. 225 frames, each 20 seconds, f/3.5, ISO 6400. Remote shutter release, tripod, comfy seat. Imaged from around 8:30 pm to 11:00 pm to collect enough data.

Sequator to stack five groups of images, then Image Composite Editor to merge the panels into a single image. Then GIMP to balance the variations between panels. Three cups of coffee, and finally a nap.