How to Photograph the Milky Way: A Beginner's Step-by-Step Guide

The first time you photograph the Milky Way, the camera shows you something your eyes cannot. Twenty seconds of open shutter under a dark sky turns a faint grey band into a wall of stars, dust lanes and the glowing bulge of the galactic core. It is the most rewarding photo a beginner can take, and it needs far less gear than most people assume.

This is our beginner's guide to how to photograph the Milky Way: what you need, when to go out, where to stand, the settings to start from, and a step-by-step routine for your first night. We publish it now because the core season is ending: from the San Luis Valley the galactic center still shows in the southwest after dark for a few more weeks, and the moon is out of the way this week.

Quick answer: To photograph the Milky Way, put a camera with a wide, fast lens on a tripod under a dark, moonless sky, switch to manual, focus on a bright star, and start at f/2.8, ISO 3200 and 15 to 20 seconds, then check the image and adjust. Shoot RAW. From the Northern Hemisphere the bright core is visible from roughly March to October, and in September it sits low in the southwest right after dark.

Milky Way photography at a glance

• Gear: any DSLR or mirrorless camera with manual mode, a wide lens of about 14–24 mm at f/2.8 or faster, a sturdy tripod, a remote or 2-second timer, and a red headlamp.
• Starting settings: manual mode, f/2.8 (or your widest), ISO 3200, 15–20 seconds, manual focus on a bright star, white balance around 3,800–4,200 K, RAW format.
• Exposure limit: the "500 rule" — 500 ÷ focal length (full frame) or 300 ÷ focal length (crop sensor) gives the longest exposure before stars trail, according to Space.com. Treat it as a first guess and check the stars by zooming in.
• When: a moonless night between March and October in the Northern Hemisphere. In September and October the core is visible in the evening toward the southwest (Capture the Atlas); by late October it is gone until spring (AstroBackyard).
• Next moon-free windows: now through about September 18, then October 6–13 around the October 10 new moon (TheSkyLive).
• Where: a Bortle Class 1–3 sky with a clear view to the south and southwest (Kosmos: Bortle Class 2 at 7,600 feet).

What do you need to photograph the Milky Way?

Space.com's beginner guide lists the essentials as a DSLR or mirrorless camera, a "fast" lens with an aperture of f/2.8 or faster, a tripod, a remote shutter release (wired, wireless or a phone app) and a head torch with a red-light mode. The Royal Observatory Greenwich gives the same advice: "You don't need professional cameras and equipment to do astrophotography, just start with what you have."

The lens should be wide — 14 mm to 24 mm on a full-frame camera, 10 mm to 16 mm on a crop sensor — and fast, because every stop of aperture is light you do not have to buy back with ISO. The tripod should be rigid: a 20-second exposure on a wobbly tripod is a blurry exposure. A kit lens at f/3.5 or f/4 still works; you will push ISO higher and accept more noise. Skip star trackers on the first night: the Royal Observatory describes them as mounts that "rotate at the same speed as the earth," but the polar-alignment step trips up beginners.

When can you photograph the Milky Way?

Two clocks have to line up: the season and the moon.

The season

The bright galactic center in Sagittarius is only above the horizon at night for part of the year. Space.com puts the Northern Hemisphere core season at February to October, with the core to the south; Capture the Atlas notes that from September to October it is visible in the evening, toward the southwest. AstroBackyard's calendar describes the fall trade-off: "As summer turns to fall, the Milky Way core begins to set earlier each night. The advantage during this time of year is that the galaxy is visible shortly after sunset." By late October, the same guide says, the core disappears from the Northern Hemisphere night sky until spring.

For the latitude of Mosca, Colorado (37.65° N), we computed the geometry with the Astropy astronomy library: on September 15 astronomical darkness begins at about 8:40 pm MDT with the galactic center roughly 20 degrees above the southwestern horizon, and the center sets around 11:30 pm. By October 10 it is only about 15 degrees up when darkness falls and sets before 10 pm; by the end of October it is under 10 degrees at dusk, the practical end of the season. Astronomical darkness — the sun 18 degrees down — comes roughly 90 minutes after sunset, so be set up and focused before full dark: your best frames come in the first hour.

The moon

A moon more than about a quarter full washes out the core for as long as it is up, so plan around the new moon. The September 2026 new moon fell on September 10 at 9:27 pm MDT (03:27 UTC on September 11), the first quarter is on September 18 at 2:44 pm MDT (20:44 UTC, per EarthSky) and the Harvest Moon is full on September 26 (Royal Observatory Greenwich). The next new moon is October 10 at 9:50 am MDT, with the Hunter's Moon on October 25–26 (TheSkyLive; Royal Observatory Greenwich). USA TODAY's September 14 skywatching report notes that between September 14 and 17 the moon is only 13.6% to 38.7% illuminated, making mid-month the best window, and NASA's "What's Up" for September 2026 points readers at the Teapot asterism in Sagittarius on September 14–20 to look "toward the center of our Milky Way galaxy."

Where should you shoot the Milky Way?

Darkness is the whole game. The Bortle scale rates skies from Class 9 (inner city) to Class 1 (pristine); the core photographs well from Class 3 down and spectacularly from Class 1–2, and a dark site improves a Milky Way photo more than any lens purchase. DarkSky International's certified places are a reliable shortlist; we explain the difference between parks, reserves and sanctuaries in Dark Sky Reserve vs. Dark Sky Park vs. Sanctuary, Explained.

Beyond darkness, look for a clear horizon to the south and southwest, where the core sits in fall; dry, high air, because humidity scatters starlight — the reason the San Luis Valley's altitude and arid climate matter, as we lay out in Six Factors Behind the San Luis Valley's Astrophotography Conditions; and a foreground. A dome, a tree or a ridge line gives the image scale.

How to photograph the Milky Way, step by step

1. Arrive before dark. Set up on firm ground and compose the foreground while you can still see it. Turn off lens stabilisation; on a tripod it can introduce blur.
2. Switch everything to manual. Manual exposure, manual focus, RAW format, long-exposure noise reduction off, and the remote or 2-second self-timer so your finger does not shake the tripod.
3. Open the aperture. Use the widest setting, ideally f/2.8 or faster. Sky & Telescope's imaging columnist Richard S. Wright Jr. recommends "a fast focal ratio of ideally f/2.8 or better" for fixed-tripod work.
4. Focus on a bright star. Point at the brightest star or planet, magnify it in live view and turn the focus ring until the star is the smallest point it can be — Space.com's advice is to "adjust the focus until the star/light appears as small as possible." Then tape the ring so it cannot move.
5. Set the shutter with the 500 rule. Divide 500 by your focal length on full frame (300 on a crop sensor) for the longest exposure before stars visibly trail: 25 seconds at 20 mm full frame.
6. Set ISO to 3200. Space.com's starting point at a dark site is "f/2, ISO 3200 and 15 seconds"; Sky & Telescope says "an ISO between about 1600 and 3200 hits the sweet spot in terms of tradeoffs." Go to 6400 only if the histogram is still bunched against the left edge.
7. Read the histogram, not the screen. The rear screen lies at night. Sky & Telescope's rule is to push the histogram "at least a little bit from the left-hand side, more towards the middle" without clipping the stars.
8. Zoom in and check the stars. Round points mean you are done; short streaks mean shorten the exposure a few seconds and try again. As Wright puts it, "Use the rule of 500, if you like, for a first guess and take an exposure. Then zoom in… and see if the stars are trailing or not."
9. Shoot a series. Once the settings are right, take ten or more identical frames; stacking software can average them later to cut noise.

What mistakes do beginners make with Milky Way photography?

The same handful, every time: going out under a bright moon; trusting autofocus, which hunts in the dark; leaving image stabilisation on; judging exposure from the rear screen instead of the histogram; using a white headlamp, which ruins your night vision; and packing up after the first good frame, when the next hour holds the keepers. Dress warmer than the forecast suggests — high-desert nights cool fast, which is why the Kosmos Pre-Arrival Guide tells guests to bring layers even in summer.

Where can you photograph the Milky Way at Kosmos?

Kosmos Stargazing Resort & Spa is a sustainable stargazing resort on 40 acres in Mosca, Colorado, in the San Luis Valley, 18 minutes from the entrance of Great Sand Dunes National Park. The sky above it is Bortle Class 2 at 7,600 feet; the property is 100% off-grid, the Sangre de Cristo range shelters the valley from light pollution, and in April 2026 Kosmos became Colorado's first DarkSky Approved Lodging property, a DarkSky International certification for properties that protect the night sky through responsible lighting. For a Milky Way photographer that means no drive to a dark site: you set the tripod up outside your villa.

Each of the three open Stargazing Villas sleeps four guests (maximum seven) and is built as three connected structures — a living dome, a bedroom and a stargazing spa dome with a private jacuzzi — so the dome itself becomes a foreground; the image at the top of this article shows the Milky Way through a dome window. Every villa also has two telescopes: a 10-inch Celestron Dobsonian for visual observing, and a Celestron Origin, which Celestron describes as an "intelligent, all-in-one home observatory" that captures deep-sky objects and stacks the frames automatically — so the Origin can image a nebula while your camera runs a Milky Way series beside it.

If you would rather learn with an instructor, our astronomer-led stargazing tours run from $99 per person (Guided Sky Tour, 60 minutes) to $250 (Private Stargazing, 90 minutes). Mark Cunningham, who leads our night-sky tours, is a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador with more than 25 years of astrophotography behind him and shot every astrophotography image in the tours gallery. For this fall's moon-free windows and what else is in the sky, see what guests can do at Kosmos this season. The Galaxy Villa, planned as part of Phase 2 — What We're Building Next, is designed for the same skies.

Frequently asked questions

Can you photograph the Milky Way with a phone?
Yes, from a dark site. Most recent phones have a night or astro mode that stacks several seconds of exposure; put the phone on a small tripod and use the timer. You will get the core's shape, but far less detail than a camera with a fast wide lens.

What is the 500 rule in astrophotography?
The 500 rule is a shortcut for the longest exposure on a fixed tripod before stars trail: divide 500 by your focal length on a full-frame camera, or 300 on a crop-sensor camera. At 20 mm full frame that gives 25 seconds. High-resolution sensors often trail sooner, so zoom in and check.

What ISO should I use for the Milky Way?
Start at ISO 3200 at f/2.8. Sky & Telescope's guidance is that ISO 1600 to 3200 is the sweet spot; go to 6400 only if the histogram is still crushed against the left side after a 20-second exposure.

When is the best time of year to photograph the Milky Way?
In the Northern Hemisphere the bright core is visible from about March to October: before dawn in spring, all night in summer, and in the early evening low in the southwest in September and October. Pick nights within about five days of a new moon.

Can I see the Milky Way in September 2026?
Yes. In mid-September 2026 the core is about 20 degrees above the southwestern horizon when darkness falls and sets before midnight, and the moon is a crescent that sets early until about September 18. The next moon-free window is around the October 10 new moon.

Do I need a star tracker to photograph the Milky Way?
No. A fixed tripod, a fast wide lens and exposures of 15 to 25 seconds capture the core clearly. A tracker, which lets you expose for minutes at low ISO, is the natural next step.

Key takeaways

• You need only a camera with manual mode, a fast wide lens, a tripod and a red light.
• Start at f/2.8, ISO 3200 and 15–20 seconds; cap the shutter with the 500 rule and confirm by zooming in on the stars.
• Focus manually on a bright star and judge exposure by the histogram, never the screen.
• Shoot within five days of a new moon under a Bortle 1–3 sky with a clear southwestern horizon.
• The 2026 core season ends in late October; mid-September and the October 6–13 window are the last good chances.
• At Kosmos, a Bortle Class 2 sky at 7,600 feet is outside your villa door, with telescopes inside and astronomers on the tour schedule.

Ready to shoot your first Milky Way?

Book an astronomer-led stargazing tour and bring your camera: the same dark sky that fills our gallery is waiting outside your villa.

Sources

• Space.com — How to photograph the Milky Way: A guide for beginners and enthusiasts
• Sky & Telescope — Photographing the Milky Way (Richard S. Wright Jr.)
• Royal Observatory Greenwich — How to get started in astrophotography
• Royal Observatory Greenwich — Full moon calendar 2026
• NASA — What's Up: September 2026 Skywatching Tips
• EarthSky — Visible planets and night sky guide for September 2026
• Capture the Atlas — Best time to see the Milky Way
• AstroBackyard — Milky Way photography calendar
• TheSkyLive — Moon calendar, September and October 2026
• USA TODAY (via AOL), September 14, 2026 — Time is running out to see the Milky Way's brightest display in 2026
• Celestron — Origin intelligent home observatory
• Galactic-center altitude and set times for Mosca, Colorado computed with the Astropy library (37.65° N, 105.87° W).