Welcome to the January 2008 Cloudy Nights Imaging/Sketching Contest poll!

Each month the best images selected from the individual Cloudy Nights Imaging and Sketching forums will be presented for the userbase to vote on. The monthly winner receives the coveted Cloudy Nights t-shirt! At the conclusion of the poll, the entry with the highest total will be the winner of the contest..

Please choose your favorite out of all the images. This poll will remain open through February 15th at midnight EST.

Here are the entries for January!

Beginning Imaging's Finalist - Strgazr27:

4 Hours of M81/82.

Intes MN74
Self Modded 40D
80X180sec
Darks, Flats and Bias
IP version 3, Registar and PSCS2
CGE
DSIPro/PHD/GPUSB for guiding

Film Astrophotography's Finalist - AstroBobo:

Here's M42 taken with Pentax 105 SDP and Pentax 6x7 medium format camera on Fuji Provia 400X. This is a composite of three exposures - 40 min, 6 min and 1 min, to show the detail in the brightest part of the nebula. The image is a bit cropped. Also, I left the background slightly brighter on purpose, to show the darker, outer parts of the nebula.

Taken from Petrova Gora, Croatia.

DSLR & Digital Camera Astro Imaging & Processing's Finalist - Mike B.:

8p Tuttle/M33 Encounter

(Click the image for an enlargement.)

Name: Mike Broussard
Location: Maurice, LA
Dates: Oct 6, Dec 4, Dec 30, 2007
Telescope: Televue TV-85 APO w/0.8x Focal Reducer/Field Flattener (F/5.6, 480mm F.L.)
Camera: Hutech Modified Canon 350XT w/IDAS-LPS Front Filter
Mount: Atlas EQ-G w/EQMOD
Guiding: 140mm F/3.6 Schmidt-Newt, DSI Pro, PHD Guiding
Exposure: 81x60 sec @ ISO 1600 of the comet and M33 combined with 30x300 sec @ ISO 1600 of M33 taken with the TV-85 on Dec 4, 2007. Additional 27x180 sec @ ISO 1600 of M33 taken with SN-8 on Oct 6, 2007.
Processing: IRIS, Registar, PS, Gradient XTerminator, Neat Image & Noel Carboni's Astronomy Tools

CCD Imaging & Processing's Finalist - Jim Lafferty:

IC 1805, the "heart" of the Heart Nebula in Narrowband, from Redlands, Ca. Imaged with my FSQ106N and ST2000xm with astrodon filters. Guided on my NJP mount with an sbig e-finder/remote guide head assembly. Ha-SII-Ha-OIII. unbinned for a total exposure time of 14.2 hours,on the nights of November 14, 15, 18, 19, and December 3 and 4, 2007 from my Skyshed POD. Ha was 280 minutes, SII was 280 minutes and OIII was 300 minutes, unbinned. Processed with Maxim DL, CCD Stack, and Photoshop CS2.

Larger version:

http://www.scopetrader.com/Photography/Photos/3880274.jpg

Solar System Imaging's Finalist - iceman:

Clavius Mosaic

Date: 30th December 2007
Location: Central Coast, NSW Australia
Telescope: 12" newt on EQ6
Camera: DMK21AU04 + 5x powermate + astronomik R filter

Full version here. (300kb jpeg)

Sketching Forum's Finalist - Erika Rix:

PCW Memorial Observatory, Lat: 40.01 Long: -81.56
Sun in H-alpha featuring NOAA 10980 and 10981
2008 01 04, 1720UT - 1820UT

Equipment:
DS Maxscope 60mm, 40mm Pro Optic Plossl, 21-7mm Zhumell Zoom, LXD 75

Sketch Media:
Black Strathmore Artagain paper
White Conte’ Crayon and pencil
White Prang pencil
Charcoal
White vinyl eraser
Black pen

Post processing:
Scanned in Photoshop, added contrast and subtracted brightness, resized and arranged collage. Digital sun insert from Tilting Sun program.

Good Luck to all our finalists!