Two Milky Ways. One night?

[Mark Wagner]

First I'd ever heard about this was Thursday night at Coe.

And here today:

https://share.google/i2o51nkmgnfRfJsSP

Anyone want to explain what's going on there?

[Mitchell Koerner]

It looks like a composite shot of the winter milky way and zodiacal light in the evening shortly after it gets dark + another shot of the summer milky way and the rising zodiacal light in the morning before it gets light (plus probably a third exposure for the scene).

Not unlike a messier marathon, just dedicated to wide field photography instead of small targets.

That's me guessing but I feel confident 🙂

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[Peter Natscher]

Each side has opposite sun-lit mountain peaks.  Merged two shots.

[Francesco Meschia]

The article has the schedule the photographer followed. There are indeed two 360° panos, one before sunset, one after dawn.

To me the most interesting thing (or jarring unexplained inaccuracy) of the article is the “triple galaxy arch” moniker. The third arch is obviously formed by zodiacal light, not by the Milky Way (unless of course we want to say that the light-scattering dust on the Solar System orbital plane is part of the galaxy).

Francesco 

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[matthew marcus]

I once saw two 'Milky Ways' at Lake Sonoma. I was out on a dark night
with an observer named Dana (I forget his last name if I ever knew it)
and it got to around 1AM. He suggested looking for the Gegenschein,
which I had thought semi-mythical and requiring fighter-pilot eyes to
see. It turned out to be easy, a hand-sized glow at the antisolar
point. The zodiacal light was visible at both horizons, connected by a
band of light which crossed the actual MW to form a giant X in the sky.
I'd never seen the like before and I doubt I ever will again, given the
brightening sky at Lake Sonoma.
mam

On 5/10/2026 9:49 AM, Francesco Meschia wrote:
> The article has the schedule the photographer followed. There are indeed
> two 360° panos, one before sunset, one after dawn.
>
> To me the most interesting thing (or jarring unexplained inaccuracy) of
> the article is the “triple galaxy arch” moniker. The third arch is
> obviously formed by zodiacal light, not by the Milky Way (unless of
> course we want to say that the light-scattering dust on the Solar System
> orbital plane is part of the galaxy).
>
> Francesco
>
>

> PastedGraphic-1.png
>
>> On May 9, 2026, at 17:20, 'Peter Natscher' via The Astronomy
>> Connection (TAC) <sf-ba...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
>>
>> Each side has opposite sun-lit mountain peaks.  Merged two shots.
>>
>> On Saturday, May 9, 2026 at 4:59:26 PM UTC-7 Mitchell Koerner wrote:
>>
>> It looks like a composite shot of the winter milky way and
>> zodiacal light in the evening shortly after it gets dark + another
>> shot of the summer milky way and the rising zodiacal light in the
>> morning before it gets light (plus probably a third exposure for
>> the scene).
>>
>> Not unlike a messier marathon, just dedicated to wide field
>> photography instead of small targets.
>>
>> That's me guessing but I feel confident 🙂
>>
>> On Sat, May 9, 2026, 4:34 PM Mark Wagner <itsmar...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> First I'd ever heard about this was Thursday night at Coe.
>>
>> And here today:
>>

>> https://share.google/i2o51nkmgnfRfJsSP <https://share.google/
>> i2o51nkmgnfRfJsSP>

>>
>> Anyone want to explain what's going on there?
>>
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