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Good News: Spending a Night Under the Stars

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Picture this: You wake up to your alarm playing some random song in your ears at 2 a.m. You stick an arm out of your sleeping bag and turn it off. You don’t have the rain fly on your tent, so your barely-open eyes can faintly see some stars above you.

While it may seem like a bad way to wake up — far too early, probably cold and definitely uncomfortable — it really is the start of something incredible.

You stumble out of the tent, grabbing a chair and your camera. Hopefully, you won’t step into an ant nest this time. You avoid any bugs in the area, place the chair down and sit back to look at the massive open sky.

The Milky Way shines above the mountains of Big Sur, California, on July 9, 2021. Perched on top of this hill along Plaskett Ridge, I could see the stars stretch from the southern to the northern horizon. Photos by Lucian Himes
The Milky Way shines above the mountains of Big Sur, California, on July 9, 2021. Perched on top of this hill along Plaskett Ridge, I could see the stars stretch from the southern to the northern horizon. Photos by Lucian Himes

As your eyes adjust, more and more stars appear, and eventually, you can see the Milky Way stretch across the sky. It looks like a faint cloud of dust to your eyes, almost more present when you don’t look directly at it. While it might not seem like much right now, your camera will tell a different story.

And so, you set up your camera and choose the part of the sky you want to photograph. As the camera shutter begins to click open and close, you relax in the chair and take in the beauty of the sky.

This is an ideal night during Milky Way season, which occurs between February and October when the Milky Way core is visible at night, according to Capture the Atlas.

The Milky Way core glows above Big Sur, California, on July 10, 2021. The top of Plaskett Ridge provided an opportunity to see stars close to the horizon with much less atmospheric distortion.
The Milky Way core glows above Big Sur, California, on July 10, 2021. The top of Plaskett Ridge provided an opportunity to see stars close to the horizon with much less atmospheric distortion.

Technically, all the stars we see in the sky are part of the Milky Way, but the Milky Way core is the densest region of nebulas in our sky and a common target of astrophotographers, according to Astronomy.com.

I love being out in the wilderness on these beautiful nights. The lights of the city fade away, and more and more stars cover the sky.

You never know what you might find. Some nights, you can watch the sky turn around the north star; other times, it is best to focus on the Milky Way stretching across the sky.

The stars spiral around the north star above Mt. Hood, Oregon, on July 25, 2020. The windless night allowed the stars to reflect in the still waters of Trillium Lake.
The stars spiral around the north star above Mt. Hood, Oregon, on July 25, 2020. The windless night allowed the stars to reflect in the still waters of Trillium Lake.

One night, you might watch the moon glow orange during a lunar eclipse, Jupiter and Saturn almost touch during the Great Conjunction, or Comet NEOWISE travel through the sky with streaks of white and blue following it.

The moon, glowing red from the Earth's shadow, peaks out from the clouds in Portland, Oregon, early in the morning of May 26, 2021. When I woke up at 3:30 a.m., the sky was covered in clouds, but I drove out to my site in hopes the clouds would break.
The moon, glowing red from the Earth's shadow, peaks out from the clouds in Portland, Oregon, early in the morning of May 26, 2021. When I woke up at 3:30 a.m., the sky was covered in clouds, but I drove out to my site in hopes the clouds would break.

There are so many stars, so many galaxies and nebulae. So many possibilities of different things to look at, and I never get tired of looking at them.

Comet NEOWISE travels through the night sky above Mt. Hood, Oregon, on July 17, 2020. When the clouds covered up our view from the lake at the base of Mt. Hood where we watched the sunset, my dad and I drove to Timberline Lodge and hiked west along the ridges of the mountain until we could see the comet in the western sky.
Comet NEOWISE travels through the night sky above Mt. Hood, Oregon, on July 17, 2020. When the clouds covered up our view from the lake at the base of Mt. Hood where we watched the sunset, my dad and I drove to Timberline Lodge and hiked west along the ridges of the mountain until we could see the comet in the western sky.

Being out under the night sky brings me so much joy. It is hard to find any other situation that shows just how small we truly are. The more stars you count, the more seem to appear.

Under the night sky, perched on top of a hill, everything else fades away. It becomes just me and the vast expanse above. Milky Way season is here: I am going to spend many nights out under the stars, and if you are looking for an opportunity to get away, I recommend you do too.

The Milky Way rises above the southern sky from Timberline Lodge, Oregon on July 17, 2020. While Comet NEOWISE was the focus to the west, looking south showed a cloud inversion below us with the lights of Government Camp shining through it, the Milky Way core above Mt. Jefferson, Oregon, and Saturn and Jupiter shining to the left of the core.
The Milky Way rises above the southern sky from Timberline Lodge, Oregon on July 17, 2020. While Comet NEOWISE was the focus to the west, looking south showed a cloud inversion below us with the lights of Government Camp shining through it, the Milky Way core above Mt. Jefferson, Oregon, and Saturn and Jupiter shining to the left of the core.

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Contact Lucian Himes via email: lucian.himes@pepperdine.edu