Milky Way as seen from Tybee Island

Milky Way as seen from Tybee Island, GA

Every night I lie in bed
The brightest colours fill my head
A million dreams are keeping me awake
I think of what the world could be
A vision of the one I see
A million dreams is all it’s gonna take

(A million dreams from The Greatest Showman)

As I looked upon the faint outline of the Milky Way rising from the sea at Tybee Island, this song came to my head and even though it doesn’t talk directly about stars (unlike many other songs), this was the one that felt true to this picture.

Just off Savannah, GA, Tybee Island is probably not the first place that comes to your mind when thinking of astrophotography but because of a number of circumstances, it proved to be the only place where I did finally see the Milky Way and as you can see, it wasn’t half bad.

Having lived in urban zones all my life (I currently live in a Bortle 9 zone about the worst possible sky for stargazing), I get a special thrill every time I see the Milky Way. There is something very primordial about that fuzzy cloud of stars streaking the sky. People in less light polluted areas and our forebears must have been able to see it so much clearly. I do envy them that.

When this whole COVID thing is over (or at least considerably subsided that travel can be undertaken with precautions), I’d like to go spend at least a few weeks at a place where I can see the Milky Way every night (weather permitting of course).