Monthly Challenge #1 - Moon/Venus/Jupiter

[Adrena1in]

Well done for all your photos of the Moon/Venus/Jupiter conjunction guys.

This was to be the first Unoffcial POTN Celestial and Astronomy Photo Challenge. If you wish to enter the challenge, please post in this thread a single photo from the December the 1st 2008 Conjunction event. One photo per entry please.

Please don't post comments or messages in this thread...this is just for the challenge entries and I want to keep the thread easily manageable.

I'll put a deadline date of this coming Friday the 5th of December at midnight to get your image posted. Depending on the number of entries I will then either add a Poll to this thread, or I will start new threads containing Polls, (not sure what the Poll-limit is).

Alternatively, what I'll probably do is post a Poll in the main Competitions Forum, to get more people introduced to photographing the heavens and widen the voting audience.

I'll leave the Poll running for another week or so, at which point the winner will be announced and the next challenge subject can be decided upon.

Many thanks. Now get those images posted.

[photorookie]

I'll go first!

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b125/huntforfun/IMG_9300a.jpg

[Sorarse]

Only photo I got due to cloud.

http://www.88qv.com/net/158.jpg

[WayCoolKennel]

I got nothing for that one PhotoRookie.. awesome.. love it !

So many good photos on here ! Wicked good stuff everyone !

http://www.waycoolkennels.com/images/treomoon052web.jpg

EXIF:
ISO 100
F/11
50mm
6 sec exposure
1d MkII
24-105L IS

[hairycrab]

Smiley from Abu Dhabi

http://niksyahron.smugmug.com/photos/428433554_adiZK-L.jpg

[squashed]

From the Sierra Nevada mountains in California.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v203/squashed/moon.jpg

[RLD]

From Cambridge, MA, early evening:

http://rld12.smugmug.com/photos/428639137_JQdZU-L.jpg (http://rld12.smugmug.com/photos/428639137_JQdZU-L.jpg)

[FarmerDave8N]

Forgot my coat and my shutter release, running late to get to my pre-scouted location so I had to blow out the conjunction to get the tree, blah. Fauquier County, Virginia

http://astrojargon.net/files/images/conjunctiontree.jpg

[Sky of the Plains]

Mead, Nebraska

http://i478.photobucket.com/albums/rr148/Tyler_greatsky/CR3.jpg

[jamesravenwood]

Will I still be able to photograph this tonight, the 2nd? I was totally clouded over last night....

[cntry]

Already a thread going but I'll post again........

http://www.bamphoto.com/POTN/20081130_Moon__0008.jpg

[DaleP]

Taken with a 17-85mm IS lens in the outer south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Australia

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g171/daleporter/Moon-Venus-Jupiter/moonvenusjupiter1.jpg

[tonybear007]

http://mycanoneos40d.com/venus-mars-moon_small4305.jpg
Taken in Hollywood Florida around 6:15 pm

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
EOS 3 (35mm film), EOS 40D, Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L, 70-200 f/4L, TAMRON SP AF17-50mm f/2.8
How to Avoid Common Mistakes with Your EOS 40D (http://mycanoneos40d.com)

[Madweasel]

I think this was my best, shortly after the end of the lunar occultation of Venus. I was more pleased with my shots of that, but thought they wouldn't qualify for this as they don't show Jupiter. Taken with 100-400L and 1.4x at 220mm (image cropped a bit here), 40D, 1s, f/7.1 ISO 1600, MLU.

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i192/garlicpickle/Canon/lr1-4485web.jpg

[tonybear007]

Venus Jupiter and the Moon can be seen in the sky again tonight.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
EOS 3 (35mm film), EOS 40D, Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L, 70-200 f/4L, TAMRON SP AF17-50mm f/2.8
How to Avoid Common Mistakes with Your EOS 40D (http://mycanoneos40d.com)

[justmatthews]

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3031/3076082552_21cacef204_b.jpg

[JiT]

Canon S5 IS
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3218/3076192270_7e7b3f66fb_b.jpg

http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/onblack.php?id=3076192270&size=large

[garyeaton]

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_rSR7KcWAKvs/STSDA_7NdBI/AAAAAAAADg0/vGLvI7m2SlI/s720/IMG_9609.jpg

[Adrena1in]

Don't forget to put your pictures in here if you want to be entered into the first Monthly Challenge. Apologies for repeating other threads, but I just wanted it to be clear that this was the one for Challenge Entries. You've a day or two to go yet.

[renderwerks]

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3278/3080512642_6d156e520d_o.jpg
Canon 40D, Sigma 17-17 @ 70mm, 4 sec, 1/15 sec, 1/250 sec (stacked), f/5.6, ISO 400

[Quarantine]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v337/Quarintine/400D%201765/moonjupitervenusef.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v337/Quarintine/400D%201765/moonjupitervenus3ef.jpg

[iyer]

This was shot on Nov 30th at around 5:50 pm from Bellevue, WA

http://iyer.smugmug.com/photos/429727532_BMqgV-XL.jpg

[Got_Vtec?]

Wow Quarantine would you mind sharing your settings and gear for that shot its amazing....here is my try

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3140/3082897107_958535c74d_b.jpg

[jocareed]

Here's my picture from Midland, TX. Approx 7:30PM CT. Temp 42 deg F Wind 15mph. Sorta cool. Canon Powershot G2, ISO 200, 1/30sec, f/2.5, 7-21@16.8mm. Shot as a RAW image photoshop conversion to jpeg.

[Nighthound]

One from the Palmetto State.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y67/Nighthd/Astrophotography/Tripod%20Astrophotography/conjpalms-1.jpg

[critterb]

Super shot! Best I have seen

[PJ1958]

Here's one of mine taken with my 40D and Vivitar Series 1 90mm f/2.5 Macro lens. You can see two of Jupiter's moons in this cropped image.

[Adrena1in]

Great shots everyone, Challenge now closed. Suggestions on how best to post the poll? I assume there are too many entries to fit on a single poll, so shall I just post a new thread in the competitions section and ask people to reply with which they think is best?

[Madweasel]

I don't know how to do it myself, but I've seen polls with lots of options before.

[renderwerks]

I did a search of "how do you create a poll".

To the best of my knowledge, you need to create a poll with a new thread. When you start a new topic, at the bottom of the page there is a "create poll" option. It says you can have 500 options!

I think you need to create the topic, put all the entries in it, and list all the user names of the entries as the options of the poll.

[Adrena1in]

It says you can have 500 options!

Cool, I'll do soon that then, and put it in the Competitions Forum. :D

[Adrena1in]

Poll posted here.

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=611986

Set it to run for 7 days. Let's hope plenty of people vote and see what a great hobby AP is.

By the way, iyer, I'm really sorry, but the challenge was to take place on December the 1st, so that everyone was faced with the same variables. With hindsight it probably should have been more relaxed...I got some pictures the day before, but then not on the 1st, so I missed out too. Perhaps the next one could allow for a wider timescale to take the photos.

[engine3photo]

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3031/3076082552_21cacef204_b.jpg
Great shot...love the defintion in the visible portion of the moon. You didn't have EXIF data attached to the shot, would you mind sharing your settings?

[FarmerDave8N]

Poll posted here.

Thanks Adrena1in, for doing that. Tough choices - I liked many for many different reasons. Good work, everyone!

David

[Adrena1in]

Tough choices...

You got that right. Yours was one of my top three I would say, because I love the longer exposures that show the dark side of the moon. I also really like the widefields, and the ones with towns or buildings in the foreground.

Won't be surprised if there isn't a clear winner.

[Adrena1in]

Well, the poll has a few more days to run, but it's currently looking like RLD is going to win. Might want to start thinking about the next target.

Also, if anyone else can think of a better way to run these friendly little competitions then please let me know, or take over the running of it. Haven't had as many votes cast as I was hoping, but it's early days yet.

[Adrena1in]

Less than a day to go to vote. I see most people voted for their own image. ;) Except one of you...you know who you are.

RLD, have you had any ideas about a next target, since it looks like you're going to win this forst challenge?

[RLD]

Thanks guys for the votes! I'm honored to be the winner of the first POTN Celestial and Astronomy Photo Challenge. Below I announce the subject for the second challenge, but first, for anyone interested, here's a few comments about the first place photo.

I shot the image at 4:58 EST on Dec 1 with my 40D and 24-105 f/4L IS at 84mm, 1/40 sec at f/4.0, ISO 1000, exposure compensation of -2, minimal post-processing. Nothing special in other words, most of the effort went into scouting out a good vantage point during the preceding evenings. I wanted to 'frame' the conjunction and to include some landscape objects to provide a sense of proportion. I also wanted a shot early enough during twilight so that the sky would still have some color. The building on the right is the "Great Dome" of MIT. I thought this was a cool location for the photo as the dome kind of resembles an observatory dome providing some astronomical flavor. In addition, the side of the dome facing Boston is lit up at night, which I thought might create the illusion that the moon was the source of the illumination.

OK - on to the second challenge. I've selected M45, the Pleiades. Adrena1in will be setting up the Second Challenge thread shortly with full details, the deadline, etc. I think M45 is an appropriate subject for the monthly challenge for December and hope you will agree. It's a challenging target for expert astrophotographers who want to bring out the subtle features of the nebulosity. On the other hand, I think some very interesting wide field views are also possible, so hopefully we will see entries from folks who may not have the equipment and expertise to create state of the art closeup images. I look forward to seeing what you come up with!

[renderwerks]

On the other hand, I think some very interesting wide field views are also possible, so hopefully we will see entries from folks who may not have the equipment and expertise to create state of the art closeup images. I look forward to seeing what you come up with!

About state of the art...

Should there be a rule that the photog personally (physically) shoot the image?

The reason I ask is because I just learned of a business that lets you "rent" a state of the art observatory over the internet and image with it (lightbuckets.com). You can have full control of practically everything through an interface that you bring up on your computer. You then download your image data.

They have excellent locations, use extremely high end telescopes (up to 24"), Apogee or SBIG cameras, big, high dollar mounts, etc...

[Karl Johnston]

Already a thread going but I'll post again........

http://www.bamphoto.com/POTN/20081130_Moon__0008.jpg
Whats that green thing?

[Celestron]

That green thing is internal lens reflection . Kit lens are bad about that . Mine too :( .

[Madweasel]

It may well have been caused by reflection off a filter.

[Celestron]

It may well have been caused by reflection off a filter.


I've had it with and without a UV filter .

[bReed]

i wish i had a high MM for this! Nice shots though.