Charlie Hein
Postmaster
Reged: 11/02/03
Posts: 6574
Loc: 26.06.08N, +80.23.08W
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We are pleased and proud to present to you the Finalists in the CN Imaging contest for April 2007:
SGT500:
Messier 51
04/20/07
Meade 16" Lightbridge
17MM Nagler T4(107X)
Seeing 4-5
Transparancy 5-5
Zyxlor:
The Lagoon Nebula taken April 16th 2007
Celestron ED80 / ST-10
L-210 sec x 15
RGB 180 x 15
Captured, aligned, stacked and dark subtracted in Maxim DL
LRGB aligned RGB merged in RegiStar
L added and processed in PSCS2.
Ralf T:
Details:
Scope: 12" homemade Newtonian, 1.620mm fl
Film: Fuji Superia 200 (old)
Exposure: 30 minutes
Guiding: manually with off-axis-guider
Scan from a print.
Chuck Anstey:
NGC4631 – The whale
Shot on April 18th
Location: Newnan, GA - Bortle Orange
Transparency – Very Good, LP ~240 ADU/min
Seeing – Very Good, ~2.1” FWHM
Equipment:
Scope: C11 SCT
Camera: SBIG ST-10XE + CFW8a + Astrodon Filters + 6.3 Focal Reducer
Mount: AP1200
Focuser: RoboFocus on SCT knob using FocusMax
Imaging sessions:
L: 5 minutes x 35 frames
R: 2x2 5 minutes x 14 frames
G: 2x2 5 minutes x 12 frames
B: 2x2 5 minutes x 18 frames
Processing:
Dark, Flat, aligned with CCDSoft 5.0
Normalized, data rejection, stacked, and RGB created with CCDStack
Processing and L+RGB combined with Photoshop CS2.
iceman:
Jupiter
12th April 2007
Taken on the Central Coast of NSW, Australia
12" newt on EQ6
DMK21AF04 + 5x powermate + Atik manual filter wheel + Astronomik RGB filters
40 seconds of each channel captured
500 frames of each channel stacked.
Pre-Processed using Virtual Dub and PPMCentre
Processed in Registax, AstraImage and Photoshop.
Nick Cook:
M63 taken on the 19 & 20 April 07 from Somerset, UK.
48 light frames x 300 seconds, + 25 Darks, + 25 Bias + 15 Flats.
Taken through the primary of my RCX with an AstroPhyiscs 0.75 adapter.
Guided with 80mm APO, using PHD for guiding.
All processing done with ImagesPlus and CS2.
Congratulations to all of our finalists on a job well done getting to this point, and good luck in the finals!
Thanks again to all who took part in the contest!
Please note that voting will conclude on May 15th at 11:59pm EDT.
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SGT500:
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Zyxlor:
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Ralf T:
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Chuck Anstey:
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iceman:
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Nick Cook:
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Weston CSC:
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Andrew Welsh
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 03/28/06
Posts: 2240
Loc: Rochester, NY
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Tough slate this month. The film image.. manually guided for 30 minutes on a homemade scope no less- talk about old school! Then there's all that detail in the sketch, nebula and galaxies, and the image scale on Jupiter is just awesome. Tough to make a choice.
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LX200 8" classic, f/10, Meade eq. wedge, .63x FF/FR
Canon 40D and 5D, unmodified
Canon EF 300/2.8L IS, 400/5.6L, 135/2L, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 35/2, 24-70/2.8L, and Peleng 8mm fisheye
Orion Apex 102mm (4") Mak-Cass
Pimped out with accessories and bling
My DSLR Astrophotography Webpage and photo bucket with full equipment list
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LEBARB34
journeyman
Reged: 11/21/06
Posts: 5
Loc: french riviera
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harder!!
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darkstar528
Post Laureate
Reged: 03/06/07
Posts: 4759
Loc: Hodgenville, Kentucky, USA
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All are winners! 
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Blue skies,
Stephen "Darkstar" Ames
PST, VIXEN 8-24mm,CEMAX 2x Barlow, Thousand Oaks White Light Filter and a Meade Elec EP
CFI, CFII, MEI, working on EIEIO!
BAA Member
My solar site:
http://seemysunspot.com
Live solarcams from around the world:
http://www.seemysunspot.com/live_sun.html
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oldsalt
Astro Philosopher
Reged: 02/12/05
Posts: 7958
Loc: Pa - between starparties
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Tough decission, it si all a matter of degrees.
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TheBigEye
journeyman
Reged: 12/08/06
Posts: 6
Loc: New Mexico, USA
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These are all great shots! I had a very tough time choosing.
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Greg K.
Reged: 12/11/03
Posts: 9971
Loc: Clifton Park, NY
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Definitely a tough choice this month. congrats to all!
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NexStar 11 GPS
Orion SkyView Pro 8EQ w/ Autostar
15x70 Celestron SkyMasters
Orion 90mm Mak
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jayscheuerle
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 01/16/06
Posts: 2989
Loc: S. Philadelphia, PA
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Man... This is so unlike a political contest where you don't want to vote because everyone is lousy. These are ALL great, but it's like comparing apples to oranges to strawberries to bananas.
I picked one because I had to, but it was a spin-the-bottle cr@pshoot because they all commend a HUGE amount of respect. - j
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12" Green Goblin (trusser w/Protstar secondary and OWL refigured primary)• 6" f/5 Eero2 ball-scope • 6" f/5 Frankenscope • Garrett Optical 10x50 binos • Edmund 8" yoke-mounted red-tube reflector • Edmund 6" GEQ red-tube reflector (on loan to Dad)
Gone, but with lessons learned:
Skyquest XT8 • NexSTar 8i • Eeroscope 6" f/5 ball(sacrifice was not in vain) • Vixen ED80sf • Edmund red-tube 4.25" f/10 • Edmund Astroscan
Facts are stubborn things.
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chris
Vendor (ExploraDome)
Reged: 01/21/06
Posts: 2
Loc: Connecticut, USA
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I had a very hard time making up my mind. These are all great pictures. Even the less detailed ones had an artfulness about them that made them engaging and evocative. The range of equipment used really struck me. Too bad it is nigh unto impossible to create some sort of handcapping or ATM-bonus-point system. I suppose different categories might help to even the field, but then the contest would be much, much more of a chore for the CN team. Anyway, my thanks to CN and our gallant photo-trappers for sharing these images!
Chris
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Off in the distance, others wonder what we are.
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Mark Costello
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 03/08/05
Posts: 998
Loc: Matthews, NC, USA
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All of these are great efforts. It took some effort to narrow it down to three. Then to pick the one was part "what object looked best"and part eenie-meanie-mynie-mo.
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Mark Costello
Matthews, NC
Wife, son, three daughters, two dogs, ... and
Souped up & Tuned Burgess 102mm refractor on a CG5 & Celestron 7X35's
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Attila the Hun
member
Reged: 01/02/06
Posts: 16
Loc: Hungary, Budapest
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I have two winners:
- the man: Ralf T (using ancient technology perfectly)
- the equipment: RCX (immaculately utilized by Nick Cook)
Congratulation to both Artists!!!
(And to the others as well, of course... Very nice images!!!)
Edited by Attila the Hun (05/14/07 04:46 AM)
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Skydetector
member
Reged: 08/21/06
Posts: 40
Loc: Albuquerque NM
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I gotta get a camera
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Detecting the ground by day and the heavens by night.
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iblis
admirer of the sky
Reged: 07/12/06
Posts: 2243
Loc: Germany
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I must long balance reasons for the vote.....
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Grüße von Iblis
The Universe is not only queerer than we imagine; it is queerer than we CAN imagine.
(Haldane)
and here I observe that universe
The sky is my heaven !**********  ********
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oldwexi
member
Reged: 08/28/05
Posts: 34
Loc: Austria
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Some years ago there had to be sent the pioneer space probe to Jupiter to get such a quality image from Jupiter.
This time a 12" Scope downunder does the job!!!
Its impressive!!!!!!!!
Icemans image is cool
therefore my vote to him.
In my opinion the very near next is the "whale".
Congratulation to all others too. Very nice images.
Especially the sketch of M51 is perfect but
its unfair to compare with the machinery behind the other images.
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Gerald
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Greg K.
Reged: 12/11/03
Posts: 9971
Loc: Clifton Park, NY
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Yep, looks like the good shots of Jupiter will be from the southern hemisphere for a while. Very impressive work.
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NexStar 11 GPS
Orion SkyView Pro 8EQ w/ Autostar
15x70 Celestron SkyMasters
Orion 90mm Mak
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Roy M.
super member
Reged: 01/31/06
Posts: 143
Loc: Northern Virginia
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First of all, I think is great that CN is sending this email for voting on monthly contests. Maybe I have been deleting them, but I truly enjoy receiving these *REMARKABLE* pictures. When we get busy with our jobs, it's very easy to leave astronomy on hold, and this is a great vehicle to remind us what it is all about 
These are all winners! Voting on this is so subjective, but if I had to choose one, I would have to go with Nick. The detail on M63 is astounding! The Jupiter shot is just wrong  ... and I have never seen a more beautiful whale... Ralf T. gets the old school trophy, Zyxlor gets the post-processing adda-boy, and to SGT500 all I have to say is that it takes eagle-vision to come up with that, wow... WTG all!
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Ralph
newbie
Reged: 10/03/06
Posts: 1
Loc: Idaho
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Wow,a tough choice, they're all just fantastic!!
Ralph Aeschliman
Moscow, ID
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trion23
super member
Reged: 01/23/07
Posts: 116
Loc: Knoxville, TN
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Unbelievable images (and sketch) guys! Every month I look at these contest entries I am blown away. It is one of my main long-term goals in amateur astronomy to produce astro images such as ANY of these.
As for which one I'm voting for, I haven't decided yet... you guys make it SO tough to choose!
Thanks,
Trion
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Chris Atkins
Knoxville, Tennessee (near the Smoky Mountains)
Orion XT6 Intelliscope (Just got Object Locator!)
Orion Transporter 70mm
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WadeVC
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 12/02/05
Posts: 2799
Loc: Lodi, California,
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Holy Cow...all of those entrants are awesome!! Even though only one can be considered the "winner", there isn't a single one that isn't excellent!
Good luck to all and keep 'em coming!
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Orion XTi10 f/4.7
Orion XTi8 f/5.9
Meade NGC 70mm f/10
Orion UltraView 10x50 Wide-Angle Binoculars
My Sketch Gallery
My Astronomy Blog
A wise man can see more from the bottom of a well than a fool can from a mountain top.
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StarNut
member
Reged: 09/26/05
Posts: 41
Loc: North Carolina
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Everyone here is a winner! Even the voters for being able to view talent at work.
Ron
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