Telescope Reviews: Apr09 CN Imaging/Sketching Contest Poll!

Welcome to the April 2009 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 May 15th at midnight.

Here are the entries for April!

Beginning Imaging's Finalist - nofxrx:

M51
Imaged with WO 66SD and SX HX-916
Atik FW,Astronomik LRGB
Guided with Apogee 106mm Achro/Orion SSII/MaximDL
Preprocessed in MaximDL and processing done in PS CS2
LRGB with L being 11x5min(1x1)and RGB being 10x3min(2x2)

Film Astrophotography's Finalist - RALF_T:

M63, the Sunflower. Single shot with a 12"/f5.3 Newtonian. 50 minutes on hypered Kodak TP. Manually guided.

DSLR & Digital Camera Astro Imaging & Processing's Finalist - neutronman:

Here is Scorpius, imaged over 2 nights at the recent Texas Star Party: one night with a 28mm to get the entire constellation and the next night with a 85mm focused on the Rho region.

Initial stacking/processing was done with DSS and CS3. I then used RegiStar to create this 2 frame mosaic to bring out extra detail in the Rho region.

Here are the stats:

Canon XSI (Hutech Modded, IDAS filter)
Sigma 28mm f/4, ISO 1600
45 x 2 min

Canon XSI (Hutech Modded, IDAS filter)
Nikon 85mm f/4, ISO 1600
53 x 2 min

I used the AstroTrac for unguided tracking.

CCD Imaging & Processing's Finalist - RBA:

Object: Rho Ophiuchi in Scorpius

Date taken: April 26, 2009 (1am ~ 4am approx)
Exposure: RGB 8x8' each channel
Scope: FSQ106EDX with 0.7 reducer
CCD: STL11k
Guiding: Orion 80mm ShortTube, StarShoot Autoguider, PHD
Mount: Takahashi EM400
Processing: PixInsight Core & Photoshop CS3
Location: DARC Observatory, near Mercey Hot Springs, California

Solar System Imaging's Finalist - rumples riot:

Taken 25 March 2009 from Blackwood, South Australia

Peltier cooled C14 with Skynyx 2-0, barlow TV 2x
705 frames per channel

Sketching Forum's Finalist - markseibold:

I observed the moon with the public on ISAN April 4 and 5 2009 with use of a Nexstar 5i. I returned home for solitary observation through my 10.1" Newtonian; 32mm Plossl and 9.7mm Super Plossl eyepieces with medium ~ good seeing conditions; light breeze at 51 degrees F, from 6 UT ~ 8 UT April 5 to produce this large 22" X 30" multiple pastel impression on black Stonehenge paper with various off-white, blue and grey dry pastel chalks. Several areas of the terminator and surface areas were rendered in detail with medium high magnification at 180X; finally adding the artists conception from the surface of the moon at bottom. -Mark

Good Luck to all our finalists!

Which Image/Sketch is our winner?
Users may choose only one (60 total votes)

Beginning Imaging's Finalist - nofxrx:

8 13%

Film Astrophotography's Finalist - RALF_T:

3 05%

DSLR & Digital Camera Astro Imaging & Processing's Finalist - neutronman:

9 15%

CCD Imaging & Processing's Finalist - RBA:

5 08%

Solar System Imaging's Finalist - rumples riot:

10 16%

Sketching Forum's Finalist - markseibold:

25 41%