The Prineville Milky Way

Tendrils of dark smoky tendrils splaying from the galactic core unless it is a dark night. To see the slender bridges of wispy dust that appear to connect the Milky Way to the Rho Ophiuchi complex to its right requires very pristine conditions. It dropped into the thirties the night I photographed this. I had a sleeping bag and a small one-person tent to sleep in. I enjoyed the experience but it's scenes like these that make it all worth it. This may be my new favorite Milky Way, and I'm so glad I caught the car in the frame too!

I used a stationary mount with My Sony A7R IV camera and an f/1.4 14mm lens. I found I could grab about 20 of exposure before the stars would stretch, and then I raised the ISO until I could see additional detail and landed on 640. I took 10 of these and stacked them for what you see.

Sony A7R IV on ordinary, stationary tripod
14mm f/1.4 lens at ISO 640
10 x 20-second exposures

A lot of detail.