Video of Milky Way over Outer Banks called a sign of ‘hope’ amid coronavirus outbreak
.png "Photographer Wes Snyder captured a series of celestial photos of the shipwreck off Cape Hatteras National Seashore. The Milky Way is clearly visible in the background.")
A ghostly video of the Milky Way’s seasonal rise over the Outer Banks has become a hit on social media among wistful tourists banned from visiting the islands during the coronavirus outbreak.
Photographer Wes Synder created the video — crunching six hours into two minutes — and posted it Saturday on Facebook and YouTube where it has been viewed nearly 30,000 times.
The video uses a recent shipwreck off Cape Hatteras National Seashore as its centerpiece, showing the galaxy of stars rising behind the half-submerged Ocean Pursuit, then shooting across the sky like a meteor shower.
Lightning flashes, clouds turn orange. A crescent moon rises and mysterious lights appear and vanish on the water. A human appears at one point, only in silhouette.
Commenters have called it “spellbinding” and a source of hope as the coronavirus pandemic forces a growing number of communities to issue shelter-in-place orders. Dare and Currituck counties, which include most of the Outer Banks, are currently preventing nonresidents from visiting the islands to prevent the spread of the virus.
“Everyone should take a pause and see this! With all the chaos right now this definitely calms your soul,” posted Debbie Butner in response to the video.
“Just reassures me that God is still at work as we scurry about in our ridiculous search for toilet paper,” Judith Duarte wrote on Facebook.
“Especially in these crazy times these pics/videos give me hope to one day see this beauty of the earth again!” Sharon Roell posted.
Snyder told McClatchy News the video captures a brief seasonal window on the remote barrier islands.
The Milky Way rises out of the ocean off the Outer Banks four months out of the year and it appears in combination with the moon only a few days during that period, he said.
Even then, he said, you have to be there on a night when the sky is clear.
“The Outer Banks have some of, if not the darkest skies in all the East Coast,” he wrote in an email. “It’s one of the few places on the East Coast we can actually see the Milky Way.”
The 72-foot long Ocean Pursuit became a tourist attraction after it ran aground March 1 off Cape Hatteras National Seashore. It has remained helplessly stuck in the sand 50 yards from the beach, according to the National Park Service. The crew was rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard.
The fishing vessel’s future is precarious, as insurance claims play out, since boats that run aground along the Outer Banks are often broken apart by pounding wind and waves, experts say.
“I love the shipwrecks, as they are usually temporary and I always head out and shoot them as much as I can,” Synder said. “It’s in a very dark area and is perfect to see the Milky Way over it. And I knew it would be a beautiful piece to photograph.”
This story was originally published March 24, 2020 at 6:34 AM with the headline "Video of Milky Way over Outer Banks called a sign of ‘hope’ amid coronavirus outbreak."