My second milky way session of 2026

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My Second Milky Way Session of 2026… and It Doesn’t Go Well

My second Milky Way session of 2026… and the universe said “nope”.
Wind, tripod wobble, star trailing moon glow and one very enthusiastic light‑painter down on the beach.
Durdle Door was beautiful — my images, less so.
Plenty of lessons learned from an early‑season astrophotography session

 

You’re probably expecting a triumphant post full of Milky Way images from Wembury. I even teased my first session of 2026 in an earlier post and promised I’d share the photos “soon”: https://undersouthwestskies.blogspot.com/2026/04/planning-milky-way-shoot-at-wembury.html

Well… “soon” has turned into “not yet”.
Either the weather has been about as cooperative as a cat at bath time, or I simply haven’t been home.
Sorry!

I will get those Wembury images done - and I’ll post them the moment the universe stops conspiring against me.

Meanwhile… Durdle Door Called

Planning a Milky Way Shoot at Durdle Door

 We took the motorhome over to Dorset for a short break, staying at the holiday park perched on the hill above Durdle Door. It’s one of those places where the view alone makes you feel like you should be holding a mug of tea and contemplating life’s mysteries.

Two nights.
One cliff top.
One iconic limestone arch.
And one astrophotographer (me) trying to wrestle the Milky Way into a frame.

 

Preparation: The Week of Hope

I spent the previous week doing what all astrophotographers do before a big shoot:

• Scouring the internet for inspiration
• Staring at Photopills like it was a crystal ball
• Sorting gear into neat piles
• Convincing myself that this time everything would go smoothly

Photopills gave me a shooting plan for each night. The plan was beautiful. Elegant. Precise.
Reality, as you’ll see, was none of those things.

 

Astrophotography Gear Used for This Session

• Astromodded Canon 800D
• Samyang 14mm f/2
• Sky‑Watcher Star Adventurer 2i
• Benbo Mach 3 carbon fibre tripod
• Two 25,000 mAh powerbanks
• Intervalometer
• Ball head
• MSM green laser pen
• Sky‑Watcher right‑angled viewfinder
• William Optics wedge

Basically: enough kit to make passing hikers assume I was either photographing the cosmos or trying to contact it.

 

Photopills Planning and Location Scouting

The Shooting Plan

• Afternoon recce on day one to scout cliff‑top locations
• Using Photopills AR to line up the Milky Way over the arch
• Returning at blue hour for landscape frames
• Night session from 00:40 to 04:00
• Repeat the whole thing on day two

I’ll share the exact shooting settings in the next post when I present the edited images — or whatever I manage to salvage from the wreckage.

 

Issues on Both Nights (A.K.A. The Universe Laughs)

Let’s just say the conditions were… character‑building.

• Brisk easterly winds (14–25 mph, gusting to 28 mph)
  My tripod shook like it was auditioning for Strictly Come Dancing.
• Exposed cliff‑top site
  Slippy grass, loose gravel, and vegetation hiding the cliff edge.
  Polar alignment required turning my back to the drop — a thrilling experience I don’t recommend.
• Star trailing
  Even with the tracker. Even with weights. Even with me acting as a human windbreak.
• 35% moon
  Casting moonglow across the scene like a cosmic floodlight nobody asked for.
• Milky Way barely above the arch
  Early season problems — the galaxy was basically peeking over the horizon like a shy child.
• Another astrophotographer on the beach light‑painting the arch
  Continuously.
  For hours.
  Much to the despair of the five of us on the cliff top.
• Cold
  Windchill that could freeze enthusiasm itself.
  I wore thermals, a fleece, two jackets… and three hats.
  Yes, three. Don’t judge me.

 

Night Two: A “Safer” Spot… Sort Of

I moved to a more sensible position on the main footpath.
Better footing.
Clearer view of the Milky Way above the Channel.

But the wind had other ideas.

• Northeasterly gusts spilling off the fields
  They pushed the tripod towards the cliff edge.
  I had to stand between the wind and the tripod like a bouncer protecting a VIP.

 

Techniques I Tried to Reduce Star Trailing

• Lower tripod height
• Weighted tripod with my rucksack
• Standing as a human shield
• Shorter shutter speeds + higher ISO

Did it help?
Not really.
But I looked impressively committed.

 

The Results?

Not great.

The Milky Way frames from both nights show trailing, wobble, and some truly unpleasant light gradients.
The kind of gradients that make you sigh, close your laptop, and go make tea.

But — and this is important — I learned loads.
And the blue hour images?
They’re actually pretty decent, and I’ve got several I can work with.

Over the next week or two, I’ll attempt to salvage something from the night‑sky shots.
Any blend I produce probably won’t be pretty…
But that’s part of the fun, isn’t it?
We’ll talk about it, learn from it, and maybe even laugh about it.

Clear skies, stay safe, keep looking up.

Steve