Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition 2009

[NickH]

first piccies... loads more...if I get time..

Rough crops, it's 3am..

Control room is cropped quite a bit for reasons... :-)

The shot of inside the prime focus cage taxed my vertigo to the limits....the elevator is just wierd... as it does around the inside of the dome...

That shot of the dome was a 30 second exposure, with my camera bag on the floor acting as a tripod... :-) (Brian will probably tell me it's not the Keck...yup, the Keck is also run by the guy who invited me... wanna roll the dice on that one? :-)). The guy who currently maintains it, worked on the LBT too...and he thinks that the Hale is a more beautifu8l instrument...when you see it up close...you kind of see why...

1948 it was commissioned...and it's still going...with the original parts...

The star blurring is ...well the star motion

[steppenwolf]

They saw your book today Steve... :-)

I hope it helps them improve their 'snapshots' then

[Psychobilly]

From Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition 2009 to Nick's trip to Caltech... just go with the flow... keep the reports coming I am trying to decide which shade of green i need to paint the bedroom and the increasing envy is helping me out whilst tryign to sort out this bloomin little DMK...

[Beyond_Vision]

It would be worth continuing this in a seperate thread now Nick so peeps can see what you have been upto

Regards

Kevin

[NickH]

Will do

[saturn5]

I recieved an email last week stating one oy my images from the Astronomy Photographer of the Year Group on Flickr had been shortlisted in the earth space category and had to send back the various forms and also a high resolution image of the chosen image between 5M and 20M which had to be recieved by the 5th of Aug.

Maybe better hurry with your entries then.

[Psychobilly]

Good news S5... fingers crossed and all that

[NickH]

:-)....oh happy days....

[Psychobilly]

Bit cryptic Nick?

[jgs001]

Well done Nick

[steppenwolf]

Well done, Nick, very pleased for you and a great image too!

[RichieJarvis]

Well done Nick

Here are a couple of news articles about the event as well... NickH's Comet Holmes (which is now displayed at ROG in the gallery) and John's coloured moon are there - great job guys!

Lost in space: Astronomy photographers capture cosmic masterpieces | Mail Online

Photography that is out of this world - Telegraph

[Psychobilly]

Well done Nick and John

Peter....

[jgs001]

Cheers Peter... Well done too Richie.. 4 in the shortlist

[steppenwolf]

I have just re-visited the Flickr site and noticed that mine was the first comment on Martin Pugh's fabulous Horsehead image - this is what I wrote 6 months ago:-

"Stunning image with beautiful delicate colours"

I almost didn't include my own Horsehead because of it but I'm pleased I did because it did at least make the shortlist.

Martin Pugh's image is a real stunner as indeed is a lot of his other work - the key here is many many hours of exposure, something I could learn from but finding the time is going to be a struggle! A richly deserved win I reckon.

[NickH]

I have to say, superb night, really great, well organised, great fun, and congrats to Richie for some truly brilliant images in the shortlist, to Nick Smith, who's two lunar shots were incredible, (and still he's just put up even better ones from LA Palma) and to Michael who won the solar system category (from IFAS who kindly invited me to solarfest in Dublin), I am so so pleased and chuffed for you mate...proves that a great shot can be taken with even the most basic kit.

The under 16's category was brilliant, and hopefully will inspire more and more kids to enter. Will, Pete, Graham, Damian, Chris and Sir PM...along with all the RGO staff and judges, I want to thank you so much for a great event, great day, and for taking my little piccie (which meant a lot as it was a bit of outreach at the same time), and considering it against what was incredible competition.

Great to see a £300 SLR come up against a £50,000 RCOS/SBIG/Paramount setup though, that's what was so amazing..

Anyway...thank you everyone...

[NickH]

Steve...what was amazing about that horsehead was the level of detail within the horse itself and the nearby nebula. I forgot to mention that the images are also part of the planetarium show now too.. (Richie you missed that bit at the end)...

Please go along everyone to the RGO, I had not been in years, but it's great, and the view across London is amazing too..

[steppenwolf]

It sounds like I missed a great evening, Nick but it just wasn't to be unfortunately!

Great to see a £300 SLR come up against a £50,000 RCOS/SBIG/Paramount setup though, that's what was so amazing..

I hadn't actually totted up the cost of the gear but I am sure you are not far wrong, it certainly makes for a great comparison with a £300.00 DSLR!!

Congratulations to Nick Smith too as he had not one but two of his images included. Well done all of you who got on the shortlist as well, there were some wonderful images displayed on the Flickr site, I enjoyed perusing them from time to time and was constantly amazed by the amateur talent we have how there - amazing!

[RichieJarvis]

I plan to take my daughter up to the RGO soon anyway Nick, so we can watch the planetarium show then

It was good to see you and John there Nick - and great to see the images on display. As you say, it certainly does showcase the range of imaging equipment out there, and that a DSLR can rival the 'super kit' of some of the amateurs out there!

Cheers,

Richie