Telescope Reviews: Nov07 CN Sketching/Imaging Contest Finals Poll!

Welcome to the November 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 November 15th at midnight EST.

Here are the entries for November!

Beginning Imaging's Finalist - Glassthrower:

It was captured on October 20th, 2007 - 10:20pm CST, from Houma Louisiana. Other information regarding the equipment used is captioned in the photo.

Film Imaging's Finalist - AstroBobo:

Cygnus, three exposures, 2x25 min on Fuji Provia 400 + 1x50 min on Kodak E200. Medium format camera Pentax 6x7, Pentax Takumar 150mm lens @ f/5.6. Taken from Petrova Gora, Croatia.

Higher resolution and quality version is here

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

NGC2244 / The Rosette Nebula
Capture date: November 3
Scope: Equinox 80mm Apo @ f5 (0.8X WO flattener)
Mount: HEQ5 unguided
Camera: Modified Canon 350, ISO800, IDAS LPS P2 filter
Exposure: 60 minutes, 30x120sec lights, 12 darks, 10 flats
Conditions: average seeing, good transparency
Processing: stacked in DeepSkyStacker, processed in PS CS2

Larger version can be found here .

CCD Imaging & Processing's Finalist - Jared:

M42--The Orion Nebula
Jared Willson
November 23, 2007, Oakland, CA
Losmandy GM-8 Mount; FLT-110 APO @ f/6.5 (TEC); SBIG STL-11000; FLT field flattener; Astrodon LRG&B TrueBalance "I" filters

x3 three minute exposures luminance; x3 thirty second exposures luminance; x1 three minute exposure for each of RG&B

Internally guided and captured in Equinox Image; Calibration, error rejection, DDP, and color combine in MaximDL; Post processing in Photoshop CS2

Solar System Imaging's Finalist - Bart Declercq:

Mosaic of Moretus/Clavius region - October 31st 2007 3h00 UT
Each of the 6 frames is a stack of 256/2500 frames at 1/30s exposure per frame.
Camera: DMK31AF
Telescope: Celestron C9.25
2x barlow extended to an effective x2.7 (so FL approx. 6.4m)

Sketching Forum's Finalist - Jeremy Perez:

Subject: Comet 17P / Holmes
Date/Time: November 7, 2007, 9:00 - 11:30 PM MST (November 8, 2007, 04:00 - 06:00 UT)
Observing Loc: Flagstaff, AZ - Home
Instrument: Orion XT8 (203 mm dia./1200 mm F/L)
Eyepieces: 32 mm Sirius Plössl (38X / 66 arc minute TFOV)
Conditions: Calm, intermittent high cirrus
Seeing: 4/10 Pickering
Transparency: Mag 6.0 NELM

As the comet has gotten larger, the outer envelope has become much less distinct. It shows up as a faint brightening near the inner envelope that fades imperceptibly into the background. The inner envelope has almost outgrown my 24 arc-minute wide 120X view. To the naked eye, it is a large, soft spot in Perseus. The binocular view is getting better as it moves closer to the Alpha Persei association and they fit in the field more comfortably.

Through both binoculars and low power telescopic views, the comet is a bluish green color. The pseudo nucleus is much less distinct, but still visible even at 38X. The inner envelope is now soft enough on the southeast side that this half displays a sort of blinking effect between direct and averted vision. The jellyfish appearance is still there, but now I can also see an ancient trilobite in the shape of the comet. The lumpy irregularities in the central condensation seem more spread out now, and had what looked like a cartoon saguaro cactus arrangement. At 38X, I noticed a bright extension flowing away from the axis of the central condensation, well outside of the soft inner envelope. Some softer fan-like extensions also seemed to peel away from the southeast and northwest sides of the inner envelope.

The sketch was created on Strathmore sketch paper, in a 3.5" sketch circle, using charcoal and graphite (2H & HB) with a chamois, blending stump and kneaded eraser. The sketch was scanned, inverted, adjusted for contrast, dust and scratches cleaned up with the clone tool, and uneven portions adjusted with dodge and burn tools. Color was added last.

Good Luck to all our finalists!

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Which Image is our Winner?
Users may choose only one (529 total votes)

Beginning Imaging's Finalist - Glassthrower:

36 06%

Film Imaging's Finalist - AstroBobo:

10 01%

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

53 10%

CCD Imaging & Processing's Finalist - Jared:

94 17%

Solar System Imaging's Finalist - Bart Declercq:

252 47%

Sketching Forum's Finalist - Jeremy Perez: