Contest

***RASC Halifax Centre Astroimaging Contest & People's* Choice *Award***

Want to shine like a star? Gain galactic bragging rights? Burst with pride like a bolide? Enter your hard-won astro-images in the Astroimaging Contest! Here’s all the info you need to generate your own solar radiance.

As of April 2019, the Astroimaging Contest, formerly only within the purview of Nova East, is now a Halifax Centre contest thereby opening it to more than Nova East registrants. Astrophoto submissions from past years are available for viewing below.

Who Can Submit to the Contest:

Submissions will be accepted from any RASC Halifax Centre member and any person currently residing in Nova Scotia.

Important Note:

By submitting a photo to the Nova East Astroimaging Contest, the photographer has given permission for use on the Nova East Star Party website, the RASC Halifax Centre publication Nova Notes, and display at Halifax Members’ Meetings, and on the prize sponsor’s website and social media. If the photo is to be used for any other purpose, the photographer’s permission will be requested specifically for that purpose.

Deadline for Submission to the Contest:

Submissions will be accepted for the next contest in 2021 (the date to be determined). This would allow for distribution to the adjudicators and for any arrangements that would be necessary regarding the awards presentations at NE.

For 2020, the deadline for submission was midnight Friday, September 18, 2020.

***Contest* *Categories:***

The Nova East Astroimaging Contest has three categories:
1.     Wide Field (WF)
2.     Solar System (SS)
3.     Deep-Sky/Prime Focus (DS)

Image Description Guidelines:

Provide a single text file with the image description(s) separate from the images. The information provided will be used when posting the photos (except the photographer’s name prior to the winners being announced). Each description should be a single text block with:
·      Photographer’s name
·      Image Title
·      What the object is
·      Pertinent details
·      Capture details: location, time, camera make, camera settings, lens, mount, total exposure time, focal ratio, processing steps, etc.

Image Guidelines & Submission:

The photo submitted may be in colour or black and white. No composite photos are allowed; however, stacked photographs are allowed. Each person may submit two entries per category. However, each person may win only once per category for which they submitted photos, i.e., they cannot win both 1st and 2nd prize in a category.

Images should be in JPEG format, 2,400 pixels wide, and should not have text (such as labels, copyright notices or other information) imprinted on them. Images should not be embedded in a presentation format.
Some composites (for example, those with foregrounds shot from a different location and/or date than the sky portion) are not eligible, however, nightscape images and photos consisting of stitched mosaics and panoramas are allowed.

All images must be captured using equipment you personally set up and operated.

The File Name format: category + image Title + file extension. Please do not include your name or initials in the naming of the file. For example:
·      WF Yarmouth Milky Way.jpg
·      SS Moon crater Plato.jpg
·      DS M101.jpg

Images are to be emailed to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Include your full name and address in your email with the JPEG of your photo. Use the naming format and the image description cited above.

People's Choice Award

Thanks to the work of Melody Hamilton, the People's Choice Award was established as part of the Nova East Astroimaging Contest in 2018. The winner was determined by fellow Nova East registrants voting for their favourite photo of all those submitted to the contest. Fellow astronomers and their families got to acknowledge amateur photographers and their work.

Given Nova East 2020 is a speaker series utilizing Zoom for attendance, the mechanism for voting for this award during COVID-19 restrictions was changed. A method was determined over the summer and announced on the Nova East and Halifax Centre sites in mid-September.

Prizes:

The Astroimaging Contest prizes will be determined each year in conjunction with the contest sponsors. The People's Choice Award is a gift certificate to Atlantic Photo Supply.

Announcement of Winners

Astroimaging Contest : All photos submitted were judged for their technical merit as well as their composition, visual interest, and artistic merit.

People's Choice Award: Voting of members and contest participants determined the winner of this award. The 2020 mechanism for voting was determined before the closure of the Astroimaging Contest.

Winners are usually announced at Nova East each year, or on another date determined by the Board of Directors. The 2020 winners were announced at the October 3, 2020 Members' Meeting.

Those winners not in attendance were notified by email regarding their win. Once all winners were notified, the winners were announced on the Nova East website, through the RASC Halifax Centre Announce List, at a Members' Meeting, and on the sponsor’s website and social media. Atlantic Photo Supply contacted the winners to inform them how they could acquire their wrapped-canvas print.

The 2020 winners (shown below) were:

Deep-Sky Winner: 11 - IC1805 / Heart Nebula - Jeff

Solar System Winner: 28 - Aristoteles and Eudoxus, the 'Bike Wheel' lunar craters - David Hoskin.

Wide Field Winner: 09 - Milky Way Bayswater - Jason Dain

People's Choice Winner: 15 - Observing Comet NEOWISE in solitude - Jerry Black

2020 Astroimaging Contest Entries

(Photos are the copyrighted property of the photographers. Permission to use any of their photos for other purposes must be obtained from the photographer.)

These photos (1 - 34) are this year's entries. RASC Halifax members may vote for their People's Choice favourite through a SurveyMonkey survey to be emailed separately. Note: with some internet browsers, hovering over the photo with your cursor will display the photo details. You may also be able to right-click on an image and view it in a separate window to see a larger version. If necessary, the files were reduced in JPEG quality to meet a 2M file upload limit (which might be noticeable if you view a zoomed image). The judges have access to the original submitted images.

Deep-Sky Winner: 11 - IC1805 / Heart Nebula - Jeff Donaldson

$28 - Aristoteles and Eudoxus, the 'Bike Wheel' lunar craters. SS Aristoteles and Eudoxus, the “Bike Wheel” lunar craters.•\tThe Aristoteles and Eudoxus craters.•\tAristoteles and Eudoxus craters are prominent; however, the image also shows some of Mare Frigoris and the northern part of the Caucasus Mountains and Mare Serenitatis, including the impressive Posidonius crater. Aristoteles and the smaller Eudoxus are a distinctive pair of craters joined by an arc of mountains. Together, these two craters and mountains resemble a bicycle and rider. .•\tCaptured at 05:16 on 7 September 2020 at Halifax, NS. Equipment consisted of a Celestron C8 200mm f/10 Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope, SkyWatcher EQ6R mount, and a ZWO ASI290MM CMOS camera (gain 200, 0.0125-second exposures, MONO8/SER format) with an IR 850nm pass filter at prime focus. SharpCap was used to capture 4000 frames of video, the best 200 of which were selected and stacked with AutoStakkert 2. Registax 6 was used for wavelets. Levels, sharpness, contrast, highlights and shadows were tweaked using Photoshop CS2 and Microsoft Photo.$ Solar System Winner: 28 - Aristoteles and Eudoxus, the 'Bike Wheel' lunar craters - David Hoskin.

Wide Field Winner: 09 - Milky Way Bayswater - Jason Dain

People's Choice Winner: 15 - Observing Comet NEOWISE in solitude - Jerry Black

07 - Eastern Veil Nebula

$13 - The Heart Nebula melts my Heart Image Title: The Heart Nebula melts my Heart..Object: The Heart Nebula (IC 1805)..Pertinent Details: This was my 1st target with my new Triad Ultra Quad Narrow band filter and I had no idea how it would perform, particularly as the 1st night of shooting was under a nearly full moon. I love photographing things we normally can't see and this is clearly that type of target...Capture Details: Image sub-frames consisted of\t56@300 sec + 14@600 sec + 23@900 sec, for a total of 12.75 hours. Shot at ISO 800 on a Nikon Z7 [8856 x 5504] using a Skywatcher Esprit 120mm Refractor with a Radian Triad Ultra Quad-Band Narrowband Filter (H-beta, OIII, H-alpha, and SII). Guiding used Phd2 via a ZWO 224MC on an Orion 60x240mm Guide scope. The image sequence was controlled using Kstars on an Odroid-N2 (Raspberry Pi clone) in suburban Nova Scotia between 2020-06-16 and 2020-09-05. PixInsight Processing consisted of the following processes: the WeightedBatchPreprocessing Script for calibration, registration and integration (integration used the Generalized Extreme Studentized Deviate rejection algorithm), Dynamic Crop, Automatic Background Extractor, ColourCalibration (both saturation and hue), MultiscaleLinearTransform, HistogramTransform, CurvesTransformation, LocalHistogramEquilization and ColourProfile. Further tweaking for colour was performed in Lightroom. Sorry about the saturation, but that's the way I like it.$ 13 - The Heart Nebula melts my Heart

$26 - The Iris Nebula (NGC 7023) DS NGC 7023.•\tThe Iris Nebula (NGC 7023).•\tThe Iris Nebula is a bright reflection nebula located in the constellation Cepheus. The reflection nebula (LBN 487) contains an open star cluster designated NGC 7023. The nebula is illuminated by a +7-magnitude star. .•\tCaptured 8 August 2020 at Morden, NS. Equipment consisted of an Orion ED80T-CF 80mm f/6 apo refractor, SkyWatcher EQ6R mount (PHD2-guided using a 50mm f/4 guide scope and ASI290MM CMOS camera), and a ZWO ASI183MC CMOS camera (gain 120, RAW16/FITS format). DeepSkyStacker was used to debayer and stack 30 x 4-minute subs, 30 darks, and 30 flats. Photoshop CS2 with Astronomy Tools Action Set was used to adjust levels, stretch data, increase saturation, and remove noise. ImagesPlus was used for star reduction. Microsoft Photo was used to tweak clarity, contrast, highlights and shadows in the final image.$ 26 - The Iris Nebula (NGC 7023)

22 - NGC 7023, The Iris Nebula

$14 - The Eagle watches over us Image Title: The Eagle watches over us..Object: The Eagle Nebula (M16)..Pertinent Details: The Hubble version of this target featuring the 'Pillars of Creation' has always been the most stunning astro image I've encountered. With a new Triad Ultra Quad Narrow band filter, I wanted to see what I could capture from light polluted skies. This young open cluster of stars, gas and dust draws me into its center...Capture Details: Image sub-frames consisted of\t6@300 sec + 1@600 sec + 12@900 sec for a total of 8.25 hours. Shot at ISO 800 on a Nikon Z7 [8856 x 5504] using a Skywatcher Esprit 120mm Refractor with a Radian Triad Ultra Quad-Band Narrowband Filter (H-beta, OIII, H-alpha, and SII). Guiding used Phd2 via a ZWO 224MC on an Orion 60x240mm Guide scope. The image sequence was controlled using Kstars on an Odroid-N2 (Raspberry Pi clone) in suburban Nova Scotia between 2020-06-16 and 2020-09-05. PixInsight Processing consisted of the following processes: the WeightedBatchPreprocessing Script for calibration, registration and integration (integration used the Generalized Extreme Studentized Deviate rejection algorithm), Dynamic Crop, Automatic Background Extractor, ColourCalibration (both saturation and hue), MultiscaleLinearTransform, HistogramTransform, CurvesTransformation, LocalHistogramEquilization and ColourProfile. Further tweaking for colour and noise suppression was performed in Lightroom.$ 14 - The Eagle watches over us

04 - M31/Andromeda Galaxy

34 - M31 The Andromeda Galaxy

05 - M33/Triangulum Galaxy

17 - M42

18 - (Bode’s Galaxy) and M82 (The Cigar Galaxy)

32 - M92

$08 - North America Nebula Image Title: North America Nebula..Object: North America Nebula..Pertinent Details: I had imaged this with my DSLR wide field and wanted to try with my new refractor with a focus on the Cygnus wall area...Capture Details: Captured at Stillwater Lake NS on July 28th and July 29th. This is 116x300 second exposures at f/5.5, ISO 1600 @ 550 mm using an Astro-modified Nikon D7200 with an Optolong L-enhance filter. The telescope was mounted on a Skywatcher EQ6R-Pro and controlled by a ZWO ASIAIR Pro. Pre-processing and processing were completed in Pixinsight. The basic workflow included WeightedBatchPreProcessing, BackgroundExtraction, Color Correction, Noise Reduction, Local Histogram Reduction, Dark Structure Enhancement and various curves adjustments.$ 08 - North America Nebula

24 - NGC 6888 Crescent Nebula, an emission nebula in Cygnus

$27 - NGC 7635 and Messier 52 DS NGC 7635 and Messier 52.•\tThe Bubble Nebula (NGC 7635) and open star cluster Messier 52..•\tThe Bubble Nebula is an emission nebula located in the constellation Cassiopeia. The “bubble” is the product of stellar wind from the large hot central star shaping surrounding clouds of dust and hydrogen gas. Messier 52 is a bright open star cluster that is easily seen with binoculars from a dark site..•\tCaptured over 2 imaging sessions, one on 8 September 2020 and the other on 9 September 2020 from Halifax, NS. Equipment consisted of an Orion ED80T-CF 80mm f/6 apochromatic refractor, SkyWatcher EQ6R mount (PHD2-guided using a 50mm f/4 guide scope and ASI290MM CMOS camera), and a ZWO ASI183MC CMOS camera using SharpCap (gain 120, RAW16/FITS format). DeepSkyStacker was used to debayer and stack 80 3-minute subs, 30 darks, and 30 flats. SiriL was used for photometric color calibration. Photoshop CS2 with Astronomy Tools Action Set was used to adjust levels, stretch data, increase saturation, and remove noise. ImagesPlus was used for star reduction. Microsoft Photo was used to tweak clarity, contrast, highlights and shadows in the final image.$ 27 - NGC 7635 and Messier 52

33 - NGC 281 - Pacman Nebulae

16 - NGC7000 North America Nebula, a large emission nebula in Cygnus

25 - Tarantula Nebula and the Large Magellanic Cloud

$12 - Moon during the day · Moon during the day .· Moon .· Shot from my Campsite in August .· Yogi Bear Campground, 9am August 9th. Camera was the ZWO ASI120MM, default settings used in ASICap and used my old Celestron 102SLT Refractor at F6.47, 400 frames used and processing done in Registax and some levels adjusted in Pixinsight.$ 12 - Moon during the day

19 - The Moon In Colour

$29 - SS Moon Meets Mars SS Moon Meets Mars.•\tThe Moon and Mars conjunction on 6 September 2020.•\tMars (upper right) is approximately 1 degree from the waning gibbous Moon. Hercules and Atlas craters are prominent to the north along the terminator. The ray systems associated with Tycho, Copernicus, Kepler, and Aristarchus craters are visible. .•\tCaptured at 02:56 on 6 September 2020 at Halifax, NS. Equipment consisted of a Celestron C8 200mm f/10 Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope on a SkyWatcher EQ6R mount, and a Canon EOS Rebel T3i DSLR on manual at prime focus. This is a mosaic of 2 sets of images (ISO-400, 1/800 second exposures, RAW format). The 4 best images from each set of exposures were stacked with Registax 6, which was also used for wavelets. Photoshop CS2 was used to merge the 2 stacked images. Lighting, sharpness, contrast and color were adjusted using Photoshop CS2 and Microsoft Photo.$ 29 - SS Moon Meets Mars

$23 - Venus and Moon Venus and Moon.June 19, 2020 5:06 am.The crescent of Venus emerges from behind the moon at the end of occultation.Seen from Bedford NS.Canon EOS RP with 500 mm Sigma telephoto lens at f/13, 1/1000\xfc\xbe\x8c\xa3\xa4\xbc, ISO 6400, handheld.Cropped, contrast and brightness adjusted in Adobe Photoshop Express.$ 23 - Venus and Moon

01 - WF Dawn Comet.jpg

$30 - WF Harvest Moon Over Minas Basin WF Harvest Moon Over Minas Basin.•\tThe Harvest Moon rising over the Minas Basin.•\tThe Harvest Moon (99.8% illuminated) was photographed several minutes after rising above the east-south east horizon. Evangeline Beach and the Minas Basin are seen in the foreground. .•\tCaptured at 20:01 on 13 September 2019 at Kingsport Beach, NS. Equipment consisted of a tripod-mounted Canon Rebel T3 DSLR on manual at ISO-400 with 55mm-250mm Canon lens at 146 mm and f/5; 0.1-second exposure..•\tA single 0.1-second exposure was captured in RAW format and converted to TIFF format using Canon’s Digital Photo Professional. Photoshop CS2 and Microsoft Photo were used to tweak clarity, contrast, highlights, and shadows in the final image.$ 30 - WF Harvest Moon Over Minas Basin

06 - Lighthouse under milkyway

20 - Milkyway Over Summerville

21 - NEOWISE Over Ponhook

03 - WF NEOWISE with Muin and the Seven Bird Hunters

$31 - WF Orion Rising WF Orion Rising.•\tThe Orion constellation rising at the 2019 Nova East Star Party..•\tOrange-red Betelgeuse is prominent. Messier 42, the Orion Nebula, is visible as a bright patch in Orion’s Sword..•\tCaptured at 04:42 on 2 September 2019 at Smiley’s Provincial Park. Equipment consisted of a tripod-mounted Canon Rebel T3 DSLR on manual at ISO-1600 with 18mm-55mm Canon lens at 18mm and f/4; 15-second exposures..•\tA series of eleven 15-second exposures were captured in RAW format and converted to TIFF format using Canon’s Digital Photo Professional. Sequator was used to stack eleven exposures. No darks or flats were used. Photoshop CS2 was used to adjust levels, stretch data, and correct color balance/saturation. Microsoft Photo was used to tweak clarity, contrast, highlights, and shadows in the final image.$ 31 - WF Orion Rising

10 - Rho Ophiuchi to the Milky Way Pano

02 - WF Winter Hexagon in Summer

2019 Astroimaging Contest Entries

(Photos are the copyrighted property of the photographers. Permission to use any of their photos for other purposes must be obtained from the photographer.)

These photos (1 - 30) are the 2019 entries. Registrants voted for their People's Choice favourite. Note: with some internet browsers, hovering over the photo with your cursor, will display the photo details.

8 M27 Narrowband (DS) Winner of the DS category - Jeff Donaldson

25 Mare Nubium’s Straight Wall (SS) Winner of the SS category - David Hoskin

13 I feel like a spot of tea. Where's the teapot? (WF) Winner of the WF category - Jerry Black

29 Balancing Rock and Milky Way (WF) Winner of the People's Choice Award - Barry Burgess

Image Title - Fireball Meteor What the object is - Meteor Pertinent details - unplanned capture! I was shooting the Milky Way and the meteor photobombed the shot. It appears to have travelled horizontally above a cloud, which gives a helicopter effect. The green colour was pretty intense. Location - Outer False Harbour near Cape Forchu lighthouse, Yarmouth County, NS Time - July 2, 2019 at approximately 12:39:28 AM; my camera clock settings were "off" so I tried to correct the data by using a universal time clock. Camera - Canon 6D Settings - 20.0 seconds exposure, F/2.0. ISO 1600. Lens - Sigma 20mm F/1.4 DG HSM Art on a Canon mount Tripod, no tracker used Processed in Photoshop CC from TIFF file with basic adjustments to brightness, contrast, shadows, dehaze, colour balance, luminance, saturation, noise and so on. Cropped to required size.

1 Fireball Meteor (WF)

2 Quinan Milky Way (WF)

3 Bubble Nebula in Hydrogen-alpha (DS)

4 Triangulum Galaxy (DS)

5 Spirit Road (WF)

6 One Hundred Thousand Light Years (WF)

7 Milky Way Rosé (WF)

9 Bubble and Friends (DS)

10 The Pinwheel Galaxy (M101) (DS)

11 Sagittarius Star Cloud and beyond (DS)

12 Shadows from the center of the Galaxy (WF)

14 10.8-day-old-moon (SS)

15 Comet meets the Pleiades (WF)

16 Winter sky with comet (WF)

17 The Flaming Star Nebula (DS)

18 The Tadpoles Nebula (DS)

19 Life‘s Good (WF)

20 Blue Moon (SS)

21 Half Moon (SS)

22 Contrast (WF)

$23 The Trifid Nebula (Messier 20) DS. This nebula is located in the constellation Sagittarius. M20 is unusual because the nebula consists of an open star cluster, an emission nebula (red portion), a reflection nebula (blue portion), and a dark nebula (dark gaps within the emission nebula) designated Barnard 85.. Captured 2 August 2019 (11:21 pm) at Hatchet Lake, NS. Equipment consisted of an Orion ED80T-CF 80mm f/6 apo refractor, SkyWatcher EQ6R mount (unguided), and a ZWO ASI183MC CMOS camera (gain 320, RAW16/FITS image format). Processed using PIPP to debayer images, DeepSkyStacker to stack 120 x 60sec subs and 10 darks, Photoshop CS2 to adjust levels, stretch data and correct color balance/saturation. Microsoft Photo was used to tweak clarity, contrast, highlights, shadows, and exposure of the final image.$
23 The Trifid Nebula (Messier 20) (DS)

$24 The Dumbbell Nebula (Messier 27) DS M27. This large planetary nebula, the first to be discovered by Charles Messier, is located in the constellation Vulpecula. M27 is a good target to image under light-polluted skies because of its relative brightness. .•\tCaptured 8 April 2019 (3:46 am) at Halifax, NS. Equipment consisted of an Orion ED80T-CF 80mm f/6 apo refractor, SkyWatcher EQ6R mount (unguided), and a ZWO ASI183MC CMOS camera (gain 120, RGB24/PNG image format). Processed using DeepSkyStacker to stack 143 x 45sec subs and 30 darks, and Photoshop CS2 to adjust levels, stretch data and correct color balance/saturation. StarTools was used for gradient removal. Microsoft Photo was used to tweak clarity, contrast, highlights, shadows, and exposure of the final image..$
24 The Dumbbell Nebula (Messier 27) (DS)

$26 Sunspot Pair SS Sunspots. Sunspots AR2741 (left) and AR2740 (right) are captured in this image, which was taken through an orange filter to give the Sun a more natural color. Umbra and penumbra of AR2740 are well defined. Faculae are visible near AR2741. Limb darkening and some solar granulation are also visible.. Captured 7 May 2018 at Halifax, NS. Equipment consisted of an Orion Short-tube 80mm f/5 achro refractor, 2.5x Barlow lens, solar safety film white light filter, SkyWatcher EQ6R mount, and a ZWO ASI224MC CMOS camera (gain 125, 0.001 sec exposure, RAW16/SER format video) at prime focus with a UV/IR-cut and Orange 21 filters. The RAW16/SER file was debayered with PIPP and 240 frames were stacked with AutoStakkert 3. Lighting, contrast and color were tweaked using Photoshop CS2 and Microsoft Photo..$
26 Sunspot Pair (SS)

27 Northumberland Strait Milky Way (WF)

28 New Moon and the Bull’s Eye (WF)

30 Rocks and Stars (WF)

Examples of previous entries from 2017 and 2018...

(Photos are the copyrighted property of the photographers. Permission to use any of their photos for other purposes must be obtained from the photographer.)

Gibbous Moon	Zodiacal Light	Turret Arch, Arches National Park, Utah
Milky Way at Keji	Starman	Iris Nebula, NGC 7025
M13 Hercules Cluster	M101 Pinwheel Galaxy	Facing Inward, San Pedro de Atacama Chile
Earth Shadow	M13 Hercules Cluster	M42 Orion Nebula
Southern Milky Way	Harvest Moon