Aliens and chasing the milky way

One of the Sundancers gave a short talk on taking milky way shots last night.  He is a smart guy so it was nice to fill in the technical details of something I have tried with limited success in the past.  When we were in the park down at Pelican the milky way could be easily seen.  Afterwards a couple of us went down to the sea to get away from the light but by then (and into the wee early hours of this morning) some cloud had come across and there was no milky way to be seen.  Those green lights are aliens out to sea.  Yes, really they are.  I am not kidding.