Summer nights offer the best time to explore our own Milky Way, a ribbon of pale light, formed by the combined light of billions of stars, that in summer stretches across the entire sky from northeast to southwest.

As summer comes on, the view gets exciting. We are treated to glowing clouds of dust, dark rifts, and star clusters as we look at our galaxy edge-on. Think of it as a flattened pancake of stars, seen on its edge.

The Milky Way is one of the most remarkable naked-eye sights in good dark skies far removed from the bright glows of civilization. You should be able to see the Cygnus Rift, a dark lane in the Milky Way between the constellations Cygnus and Scutum. The Cygnus Rift is not a hole in the Milky Way but rather a cloud of dust that obscures the view of distant stars.

Scanning with binoculars unveils the misty band of the Milky Way and reveals a sparkling river of thousands of stars. The most interesting regions stretch from the Summer Triangle toward the south-southeastern horizon.