Please do note that the apparent "arch" you see in this image is mostly because of the distortion caused by such a wide angle of view, of over 120 degrees. The Milky Way, when overhead, occupies a plane that is straight, when looking up. In this image, our galaxy (center) was already past the meridian, and, so, in the Western horizon.

The unfortunate light pollution is caused by nearby cities. The most noticible one is Cristina, a mere 10000 hab. city, 3km away from the imaging locaiton. Howeer, due to incorrect and inefficient street illumination lamps, along with useless lights facing "up", illuminating the city landmarks, are, to my mind, the main cause of this problem. And that's a problem that is always to us, astronomers and astrophotographers, a concern, and a pity. Further, in the left hand side, due North, is LP from São Lourenço, a much larger city, but 30km away.

The version uploaded here is a mere 15% resize from the Original Panorama, which is over 100MP (102, to be precise). The image, because of "panoramaing", could output in a really high resolution, which is more than enough to print a high qualty 130x65cm frame, or a good quality 2 meters one. One day, I may print this image, but for now, I'll only enjoy it on screens.

The bulk of the work (the most difficult to be done manually, not the most longlasting) was done in the fantastic panorma software Microsoft Image Composite Editor (ICE, for short), from the straight-out-of-the-camera RAW files. It is free (yes!!) and to me, can deliver more precise results than PS Photomerge, due to its built in previeweing function. The Spherical projection was preferred due to the minimized (well, it is still pretty high, actually) distortion. And, to my (artistic) point of view, the Milky Way Arch is really beautiful. The final panorama was processed in Adobe Lightroom.

Constructive criticism, comments and suggestions are more than welcome in the comments section.

Taken from Rural Skies (Bortle 3-4), from Cristina, MG, Brazil (22ºS latitude). Thanks for looking.

Date and Time: September 6th, 2015, at 22:20h.

Camera: Unmodded Canon T4i/650D, at ISO 6400

Lens: Canon 18-135mm STM (kit lens!), at 18mm and f/3.5

Exposure Detail: 16 Shot PANORAMA 30s each (16x30s)