Cape Hatteras Milky Way Pano

The wide dark skies of the Outer Banks of North Carolina provide me with an opportunity that I rarely get shooting farther south. A chance to photography the full arc of the Milky Way. Standing on Old Lighthouse beach in May I realized that if I came back in a few more weeks I should be able to capture a pano of the entire thing.

Above is a 6 image panorama of the full arc of the Milky Way. With each passing day it moves a little father south and is angled a little higher in the sky. If another month or so it will appear vertically and the arc will extent overhead. Once is reaches that point it will slowly moved below the horizon until sometime in October when the core will no longer be visible.

This pano was created by stitching 6 vertical stacked images requiring a total of 54 captures. At 13 seconds per image plus the time adjust the camera this single photograph took over 12 minutes to take. I don't shoot this type of image very often but it was worth the extra time, effort and trip out to capture it.

If you are interested in any of my images please visit my Shop and make sure you Subscribe to my newsletter for monthly tips, updates and special discounts.