Big Bend National Park was on my list of places to visit for a long time. Well, actually, every single National Park in the US is on that list, but Big Bend was pretty much at the top of it. The reason? It is one of the darkest places in America and also one of the few places in the world where you can see the Milky Way Galaxy in all its splendid and inconceivable beauty.

I have been to Maine previously, and have visited Acadia National Park with the express purpose of stargazing and seeing the Milky Way Galaxy, but alas, the odds were not in my favor that trip. Most of the nights it was cloudy, and on top of that, I came down with a nasty cold that sapped my will to venture out into the cold Maine night to stargaze.

However, four nights around Big Bend, spent lodging in the cutest house in the ghost town of Terlingua, not only offered us the most beautiful sky I have ever seen in my life, but also enabled me to try my hand at nighttime photography. Here are the results—The Milky Way Galaxy with bonus lightning in the sky as it stormed every night we were there, and the grand Big Bend National park featuring mountains, fauna, sprawling desert, canyons, and so much cacti. Seriously, so much cacti.

The nighttime photos were taken with a tripod, a DSLR and 24-70mm lens.

I loved visiting Big Bend National Park, not only for the stargazing bit, but for the sheer feeling of my own’s insignificance in the universe it evoked in me. The desert is majestic, certainly, but also unfeeling, cold, stoic. The park is the middle of nowhere, truly. Seven hours away of driving from the nearest civilization (San Antonio, TX) through oil fields, just to get to a Ghost Town with population of 10. But all worth it, for nothing puts one’s struggles in perspective more than being in a vast beautiful space that cares not for you, while looking up at the literal infinity in the sky.