54 replies to this topic

[Charlie Hein]

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.

*

[Andrew Welsh]

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.

[LEBARB34]

harder!!

[darkstar528]

All are winners!

[oldsalt]

Tough decission, it si all a matter of degrees.

[TheBigEye]

These are all great shots! I had a very tough time choosing.

[Greg K.]

Definitely a tough choice this month. congrats to all!

[jayscheuerle]

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

[chris]

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

[Mark Costello]

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.

[Attila the Hun]

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!!!)

[Skydetector]

I gotta get a camera

[iblis]

I must long balance reasons for the vote.....

[oldwexi]

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.

[Greg K.]

Yep, looks like the good shots of Jupiter will be from the southern hemisphere for a while. Very impressive work.

[Roy M.]

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!

[Ralph]

Wow,a tough choice, they're all just fantastic!!

Ralph Aeschliman
Moscow, ID

[trion23]

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

[WadeVC]

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!

[StarNut]

Everyone here is a winner! Even the voters for being able to view talent at work.

Ron

[MADRID SKY]

I hope in some near future I may be in one of these amazing finals.

CONGRATS to anyone that reached this final!!

All of you, well done. You have given us a new magic view of heavens.

May God bless each of you with clear skies and even greater pictures/sketches!

An amateur-astronomer-to-be at Madrid.

[SamvdHeijden]

Tough call this month! Its gonne be close!

[clintwhitman]

Fantastic Job to All but for sheer determination and labor and an awsome photo I had to go with THE OLD SCHOOL 20 minutes of perfection

[Luna]

These photos are all winners in my book, each one unique and perfect. Such a beautiful universe we live in.
Thank you all!!!

[macastronomer]

NGC4565, I love that galaxy. The sketch is great, very much like the visual. They are all awesome. Sounds like a broken record player, but this is a great contest and definitely a photo-finish (no pun intended). Almost impossible to pick. I hope you all win!