Telescope Reviews: Aug07 CN Imaging/Sketching Finals Poll!

Welcome to the August 2007 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 Saturday, September 15th at midnight EST.

Here are the entries for August!

Beginning Imaging's Finalist - Jared:

Image of NGC6960--The Witch's Broom Nebula--captured by Jared Willson on the night of August 18/19, 2007 in Mill Valley, CA

Losmandy GM-8 mount; William Optics FLT-110 APO @ f/6.5 (TEC); SBIG ST-2000XCM one-shot color camera w/ AO-7 adaptive optics; WO field flattener

x8 five minute exposures clip combined in Equinox Image (Mac)
Post processing in Photoshop CS3 including: color recombine and balance; levels; curves; de-noise; cropping; unsharp mask; contrast.

Film Astrophotography's Finalist - AstroBobo:

Orion, from Petrova gora (Croatia). Single 60min exposure, Kodak E200, Pentax 6x7, 75mm Takumar lens closed to f/6.7. Taken this january.

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

Click the image to see a hi-res enlargement (1708x1140 pixels, 1.35MB.)

M22 Globular Cluster in Sagittarius

Location: Maurice, LA
Date: Aug 7th, 2007
Telescope: Meade 8" f/4 Schmidt-Newtonian w/MPCC
Camera: Hutech Modified Canon 350XT w/IDAS-LPS Front Filter
Mount: Atlas EQ-G w/EQMOD
Guiding: 102mm F/5 Achro, 2x Barlow, DSI Pro, PHD Guiding
Exposure: 25x120 sec @ ISO 1600
Processing: IRIS, PS, Gradient XTerminator & Noel Carboni's Astronomy Tools

CCD Imaging & Processing's Finalist - Dean:

Deep Dumbbell (M27)

Dean Rowe
Bailey, Colorado
08/09/2007 & 08/10/2007
585 minutes HaLRGB 315:90:60:60:60
Ha 45 minute, L 10 minute & RGB 15 minute subs
Ha binned 2x2, LRGB binned 1x1
12.5" RCOS @ F/6.5 on an NJP
ST10MXE with CS 10nm Ha & Astrodon LRGB filters

Other image sizes & Ha only:
http://deanrowe.net/astro/main.jsp?image=images/m27_deep

Solar System Imaging's Finalist - swalker:

Venus recorded in Ultraviolet light over the course of 5 1/2 months.
Two telescopes used; a 10" f/5 newtonian, and a 12.5" f/5.1 newt.
Cameras used were a Lumenera LU075 and a Imaging Source DMK21AF04.
The images span from January 28 2007 through July 16 for the last image.
Please click on this link to view the full resolution image:
http://masil-astro-imaging.netfirms.com/SWI/UV%20montage%20flat.jpg

Sketching Forum's Finalist - Jaycin:

2007 August 12
0730-1030 UT
Jason Aldridge
M31, NGC869 & NGC884

Who has our winning image?
Users may choose only one (660 total votes)

Beginning Imaging's Finalist - Jared:

156 23%

Film Astrophotography's Finalist - AstroBobo:

33 05%

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

79 11%

CCD Imaging & Processing's Finalist - Dean:

121 18%

Solar System Imaging's Finalist - swalker:

219 33%

Sketching Forum's Finalist - Jaycin: