Telescope Reviews: September's Imaging/Sketching Finals are on!

Hello Folks!

The September 2009 CN Imaging/Sketching Contest Poll is now open!

The winning sketch or image in this contest will be posted to the front page of the Cloudy Nights Website for the whole world to see and admire. More importantly, your vote could help the winner score the highly coveted Cloudy Nights T-Shirt!

You may ask - how good are these guys? Well, see for yourself - here is the list of this month's finalists with their work:

Beginning Imaging's Finalist - Scott Mitchell:

Here's M27 taken Aug 24th. Taken from my backyard in Smyrna, GA with a William Optics 66SD piggybacked on an LX90, camera was a DSI Pro. LRGB with 38/18/15/14 minutes for each channel.

Film Astrophotography's Finalist - Nightfly:

Moon Rays and Star Trails, Sullivan, Maine

September 7, 2009
Tripod mounted Pentax 67 with 55mm f/4 @ f/8 30 minutes exposure Fuji ACROS 100 Black and White film.
Camera was pointing south-east in the direction of the rising Moon which is hidden behind the tree canopy. Exposure lasted from 8:26-8:56 EDT.

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

North America (NGC7000) and Pelican nebula (NGC5070)

Picture taken on August 22nd and 25th, 2009.
Location: Petrova gora, Croatia, Europe
Skywatcher ED80 + WO II 0,8x, two segment mosaic by modified Canon EOS 300D 15x480sec @ ISO1600 for hAlpha, Canon EOS 400D 16x240sec @ ISO800
Guiding with Maksutov 90/1250 + QHY5 guiding camera (PHD Guiding)
Mount: EQ6 Vis upgreded to EQ6 SynScan
Processing software: DeepSkyStacker, PixInsight 1.0, Photoshop CS2

CCD Imaging & Processing's Finalist - neutronman:

This wide field in Perseus stretches from IC348 to NGC1333 (with lots of dusty stuff in between) taken at Okie-Tex.

FSQ 106EDX f/3.64
STL-11000M -20c
LRGB (200,50,40,60)
CCDStack, CS4

Solar System Imaging's Finalist - whduke:

Jupiter, and the Great red Spot on 15 Sept 09 at 0600 UTC. The SEB is showing a lot of activity as of late. The Bird Strike impact is still visible in the top right.
Astronomic RGB 60 seconds per channel, FPS30, Exposure 1/30, gain 800-900. Stacked 800 of 1600 per channel. Processed in IRIS.
Seeing 7/10

Celestron 9.25
EQ CG5
Cam DMK 21

Sketching Forum's Finalist - jayscheuerle:

My astro hobby needed a new direction and I caught both the GRS and a transit shadow. This is a charcoal sketch brought into Photoshop for coloring and shading. - j

So don't delay! Visit the September 2009 CN Imaging/Sketching Contest Poll and vote for the best of the best!

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"He's dead, Jim - I'll get his wallet, you get his tricorder." - Leonard "Bones" McCoy

Weston CSC: