Monday night I was at a campground in the small town of Warren, Minnesota. I’ve been there before and know the skies are reasonably dark, it was a new moon, and the Perseids were happening, so I was definitely going to do some stargazing. But it was a short trip and I wanted to keep packing simple so that meant no telescope. I brought my binoculars instead.

And saw more than I ever expected.

Equal parts pleased at how lovely this unplanned shot ended up being and annoyed that I didn’t have my “real” camera to capture this beautiful morning light.