Cloud Galaxy

Last night we headed out to try and do some photography of the annual Perseid meteor shower.  For about the past week we have been seeing quite a few meteors streaking through the sky each night, but last night was supposed to be the "peak" of the shower.  We stayed out from about 10:30 PM until 3:00 AM and while we did see a lot of meteors, it didn't seem to be quite as many as last year.  The view of the Milky Way Galaxy is what really stole the show.  We started off our evening at Paradise Beach just south of Judge Magney State Park and the view of the Milky Way over Lake Superior was tremendous.  As we sat and enjoyed the view we heard wolves howling off in the distance.  A couple of hours later we packed up and headed to one of the fire towers in Grand Portage.  When we got there, however, a very large cloud bank was moving in from the west and we were only able to get a few shots in before the Milky Way was completely obscured by the clouds.  In this photo you can see the edge of the cloud along the bottom of the photo.  I thought it made for a pretty interesting image to show that cloud advancing over the Milky Way with the fire tower in the foreground.  It was a fun night outside, and to go along with hearing the wolves we also saw a pine marten and a small rabbit, both of which ran down the road in front of us at different times.  So, not only a good night for stargazing but also a good night for wildlife!