Milky Way in the Desert

The California Desert is a great location for Milky Way shots since it's dry and the high desert avoids surface air distortions. The rocks, hills, and cliffs as a foreground are hard to beat.

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The Milky Way over the CSU Desert Research Center.

Here you see the galactic center of the Milky Way over the CSU Desert Research Center and Lake Tuendae. Zzyzx is actual on the edge of a dry lake bed(Soda Lake, a different one than the one on the Carizzo Plain) which is actually the terminus of the Mojave River. It's usually dry, but does fill with water during especially rainy seasons. Lake Tuendae and what were once the therapy pool are fed by the Zzyzx Spring just south of Zzyzx. This was shot with my NX1(40 exposures, 15 seconds, f/2.0, ISO 1600, stacked).