@hark
I remember Don had some type of program to straighten out images. I need to go back and look for it.
I find the current version of Lightroom works very well for straightening out images and you can use the 'auto' feature under 'Transform' if you don't want to waste time on the processing part. There is also the lens 'profile corrections' feature that also work but I find not as well as the 'Transform'.
I recently uploaded a 11mm wide crop photo to LR with verticals going away at all angles and was amazed how well the above worked.
Mily Way in Twentynine Palms, Ca.
@hark
I had a long post, but I deleted it after re-reading your post.
The Milky Way looks like light clouds. After it got dark enough, it ran from the horizon past zenith. Enough to have an arch to it. There are lots of clusters and stars that you can see, but the cloudy, diffuse light it what makes the Milky Way.
I think the Tokina performs well considering the person using it. Anyway, I had suggested a long exposure pointing at Scorpius until I read your post again and saw that you can't even see the Big Dipper. I am lucky that Scorpius rises over the mountains, and they help block the lights of Orange County and Los Angeles. Disadvantage: No horizon.
I forgot to mention that the Milky Way image was 3 images stacked.
Thanks for the info! On most nights that aren't cloudy, I can see what I assume is Venus (obviously a planet) and one or two other bright lights in the sky. That's pretty much it. However, there were a couple nights this summer when I saw at least a dozen stars - so the sky immediately caught my attention. But that was the extent of what was visible. This entire area of Pennsylvania and New Jersey is urban and suburban for miles on end with lots of light pollution and smog.