Whoa!
The Milky Way, taken at the Dessert View RV Park outside of Valentine, TX - the Big Bend area. (~ 16 seconds, f2.0 12 mm lens.
Another view. To the right of center is a black, lacy area attributable to blockage of star light by interstellar dust.
The Milky Way is "our" galaxy - the earth, sun and the rest of our solar system is part of the galaxy.
Slightly visible at the bottom of the image is a black area - the earth's surface, with a vaguely visible horizon to the right, with some distant lights on the ground. Big Bend has the darkest skies in the continental USA - the least light pollution / sky shine.
Camera and lenses used during trip. Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III, mirrorless, micro four thirds, 16 megapixel. Lenses are also pictured. A few shots were made with a Google Pixel 3XL smart phone and brother Gene's Samsung phone. Milky Way shot was with Samyang lens, lower right.
Image before adjustments with The GIMP.
Histogram before adjustment. Notice that it is shifted to the far left, indicating that all of the digital info for the image is in the dark region. Sliders left-to-right, for dark, mid-tones, and light areas, are at their default positions.
Position of sliders after adjustment. Notice that the right slider has been moved very far to the left. After this initial adjustment, HAPPINESS! The Milky Way popped into view. Slight movement of the other two sliders improved the color balance between whites and blacks, with some colors coming to life.
