View larger. | The view from Fremont Peak, near San Francisco, on July 18, 2013, by Meggie Raeder. Visit Meggie’s website.

Meggie Raeder wrote:

Living in the San Francisco Bay Are with its light pollution, it is getting harder and harder to find ‘dark sky’ to capture the night sky and the Milky Way. Last Tuesday, I drove south and camped on one of the coastal mountain tops with view to the east for the Milky Way and the west towards the Pacific. Around midnight, I captured the western view with the ~70% moon illuminating the meadow and woodlands. Rotation around Polaris was an extra bonus.

Nikon D700 with Nikkor 14-24mm lens, Monfrotto Tripod and Right Stuff Ball Head, Intervelometer.

Photoshop CS6 with small light adjustment.

Deborah Byrd

Deborah Byrd created the EarthSky radio series in 1991 and founded EarthSky.org in 1994. Today, she serves as Editor-in-Chief of this website. She has won a galaxy of awards from the broadcasting and science communities, including having an asteroid named 3505 Byrd in her honor. A science communicator and educator since 1976, Byrd believes in science as a force for good in the world and a vital tool for the 21st century. "Being an EarthSky editor is like hosting a big global party for cool nature-lovers," she says.