SGL 2022 Challenge 12 - Constellations

[MartinB]

This challenge requires you to capture a constellation in its entirety (check your star chart).  The choice of constellation and the field of view is entirely up to you.  Widefield landscape images will be accepted.  Landscape features and deep sky nebulosity may add to the image but we will primarily be judging the quality of the presentation of the constellation.  

If any of you have any queries please don't hesitate to contact me via pm

Start date: 1st December 2022

End date: 28th February 2023

No entries will be accepted after this date

RULES

All data must be captured and processed by you (no collaborative entries). 
Data must be captured during the challenge start & end dates. 
Multiple entries are allowed but please start a new topic for each entry. 
Multiple submissions of the same image, processed differently, will not be accepted.

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To enter please post within this topic, do not start a new topic. Please post as much information as possible - when it was taken, how it was captured and processed, etc. The info won't necessarily be used for judging but will help fellow SGLers looking to learn and improve their knowledge and technique.

Please do not post responses to entries since this clutters up the thread, emojis are very welcome however.

[wesdon1]

Hi, I am going to try my luck and enter this comp by re-imaging Cassiopeia. I just finished my first ever successful DSO image, coincidently I was trying to capture the constellation of Cassiopeia but managed to capture some of the neighbouring constellations and a bit of Andromeda Galaxy too. I will re-frame my new image to focus exclusively on Cassiopeia constellation. Please let me know if my plans don't fit inside the rules of the competition. Thanks.

[Cjg]

The constellation of Orion, rising in the East / South East above ‘The Scallop’ at Aldeburgh. Taken at around 21:00hrs on Thursday December 15th.

Foreground exposed for 5 minutes, and then the stars / sky exposed for 5 minutes with my Ioptron Skyguider switched on. 

The two images were then blended in Photoshop.

The Scallop was partly illuminated by someone driving their 4x4 along the coast road with their main beam on.

The lights on the horizon are from a wind farm ( I think) boats heading to / from Felixstowe and from the Dutch coast.

Chris

 

[Kon]

Constellation of Taurus with Mars and Pleiades in frame. Nikon D3200 with a 18-55mm at f3.5. Stacked 9 images in Siril.

 

[Dark Adaptation]

Hi, I have a quick question. Would it be possible to submit a drawing of the constellation? With details about how I drew it? Or does it have to be photographed? I'm not thinking just dots for stars and lines connecting them like a star map--more like a drawing similar to what you would get if you captured the image with a camera.

Thanks!

[MartinB]

9 hours ago, Dark Adaptation said:

Hi, I have a quick question. Would it be possible to submit a drawing of the constellation? With details about how I drew it? Or does it have to be photographed? I'm not thinking just dots for stars and lines connecting them like a star map--more like a drawing similar to what you would get if you captured the image with a camera.

Thanks!

Absolutely!  I need to make it clearer that for the great majority of challenges drawings are very welcome.

[teoria_del_big_bang]

9 hours ago, Dark Adaptation said:

Hi, I have a quick question. Would it be possible to submit a drawing of the constellation? With details about how I drew it? Or does it have to be photographed? I'm not thinking just dots for stars and lines connecting them like a star map--more like a drawing similar to what you would get if you captured the image with a camera.

Thanks!

I am an out and out imager but I love seeing observers drawings and as somebody who cannot draw to save his life I really am astounded at some of the drawings people do so I certainly would love to see  drawings or sketches 🙂 

Steve

[Dark Adaptation]

On 13/01/2023 at 05:17, MartinB said:

Absolutely!  I need to make it clearer that for the great majority of challenges drawings are very welcome.

Thanks a lot! I don't have an astrophotography kit, and I really wanted to participate in these challenges.

[Snoani]

Here is my first of two entries in this category.  It is the constellation Auriga.  

The equipment used is a Sigma 24mm Super Wide II manual lens at F5.4, a ZWO ASI533M mounted onto a Skywatcher Star Adventurer GTi and guided.  The data is made up of about 6 hours of narrowband using an Optolong L-Extreme filter and 2 hours with no filter for the stars, all captured between 17-21st January 2023 and processed in Photoshop.  

[Snoani]

For my second entry I am pleased to present the constellation of Orion, coveted by so many astrophotographers.  

This is my first attempt at a mosaic and made up of two panels and I have to admit it was a very difficult process which I think is due to the lens used to capture the data.  I used a 24mm lens at f5.4 and there is significant elongation of the stars around the edges and particularly in the corners so when I tried to stitch them together using Image Composite Editor and then again in Pixinsight, both programs introduced artifacts that came out in editing.  I therefore painstakingly  put them together manually and needing to deal with a lot of issues along the way.  It is processed using a combination of Photoshop and a little Pixinsight and given the difficulties and limitations I am pleased with how it turned out.

The equipment used is a Sigma 24mm Super Wide II manual lens at F5.4, a ZWO ASI533M mounted onto a Skywatcher Star Adventurer GTi and guided.  Each panel is about 4.5  hours of narrowband using an Optolong L-Extreme filter.  I also captured 2 hours of RGB for the stars but was only able to use it for the largest stars in this constellation.  All data was captured between 17-21st January 2023.

[Kon]

Ursa Minor and Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) (around 3 o'clock) on 27/01/23. Nikon D3200 and 18-55 lens at f 5.3 on a tripod and no tracking, 60x20s at iso 800. Siril and Gimp. The inverted monochrome shows constellation and comet clearer.

  

[kev100]

In for a penny … Gemini, captured on a Pixel 4a in ‘Astrophotography mode’ on the 26th of December, Piddletrenthide, Dorset. Boosted the contrast slightly with Curves in Photoshop. Pretty close to original tbh.

[kev100]

Couldn’t not try this one. Orion above the ramparts of Dorset’s Maiden Castle Hillfort. No processing, just as it came off the Pixel 4a. January 30, 2023. The foreground doesn’t normally show up in phone shots, but was illuminated by a very bright waxing gibbous moon.

kev

 

[DaveS]

Just a token effort from me, Orion and friends rising across the road outside my house 

Edit: Handheld capture with my smartphone.

Edited February 22, 2023 by DaveS

[clarkpm4242]

Orion above Keld Side Lime Kiln.  8 x 10s sky, 5 light painted foreground.  Imaged Feb 13th.  Canon 6D MkII, Sigma 24mm.  Processed in LR, Sequator and PS.  Cheers, Paul. ***entry too late to count***

Edited March 3, 2023 by clarkpm4242

[MartinB]

The challenge is now closed.  The results will be announced within the next 2 weeks.

[MartinB]

The results are in

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/407969-sgl-2022-challenge-12-constellations/