Starry Starry Night, Part II

Well I planned to shoot the Milky Way during the night of the new moon.  Thought process was, no moonlight so the Milky Way would be super bright.  Wrong.  While it was visible, it was kind of lack lustre.  I mean if it takes a couple of billion years for the light to get here, don't you think that the intelligent life forms from far away could have foreseen my need for a bright galaxy that night and made appropriate arrangements?  This is four images stitched together.