Picture of the month February 2013

[philjay]

Despite the lack of clear nights there has been quite a lot of images to look through this month looking through them I am struck by one common denominator and that is that the images are getting better, your all determined to make my job difficult arent you? :-)

DSO

Again there have been lots of M42 shots this month

Ron Clarke M42 http://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/3834-m42-from-2213/

 

Graham M42
http://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/3802-yet-another-m42/ http://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/3965-my-best-yet-and-its-only-6-subs/

Eddy_J1 http://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/3870-m42/  his 1st image with new mount and an excellent one to boot, great colour and detail

Andyboy1970 galaxy M96 here http://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/3889-m96-galaxy-in-leo/

I do like Ibbos  NGC2403 
http://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/3912-ngc2403-reprocess/ shows lovely detail and colour

Todd8137 Pats M33
http://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/3883-m33/ this is a nice image showing great colour

Ollypenrice gave us a glorious view of the Horse Head here  http://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/3921-long-haul-on-the-horse/
 

Antares_Pauls  M64
blackeye galaxy shows galaxy season is here  http://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/3982-m64-black-eye/

 

Graham Leo Triplet - http://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/4006-leo-trip-from-last-night-16022013/

Peter Shahs Galaxy flyby of DA14 was interesting and a
difficult image to get I imagine http://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/4014-galaxy-flyby-n4605-and-da14/

Lunar

A lot of lunar activity this month

Tbirds mosaic http://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/4026-moon-18-02-2013/
shows good sharp detail

Pat (Todd8137) gave us a set of nice lunar close ups, here http://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/4017-moon-ir-740nm-x2-barlow-17-feb-2013/
and here http://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/4042-lunar-18th-neo-vs-ir-filter/
showing comparisons between filters

Mike (Perkil8r) gave a lovely sharp and nicely coloured
gibbous moon shot here http://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/4047-moon-19th-feb-2013/
and his almost full moon image here http://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/4085-moon-24th-feb-2013/

Planetary

andyboy1970 showed us a Jupiter family portrait http://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/3813-jupiter-io-europa-grs-01feb13/
and also in colour http://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/3905-jupiter-re-process/
and a full set of disc images http://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/4043-jupe-neo-vs-ir-18-feb-2013/

Pat (Todd8137) gave us an animation of Jupiter http://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/3831-jupiter-2-feb-2013/

 

Celeste showed us some nice detail and colour on Jupiter http://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/4000-2-jupiters-from-last-night/

and I think Felix (catman161) deserves a mention for his detailed first Jupiter here http://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/4011-my-first-ever-jupiter/
and to be followed up by another here http://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/4028-jupiter-18022013-and-shadow/

Sketching

Only one brave soul tried sketching this month  and Felix gave us a drawing of the Owl
Cluster  http://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/3827-first-attempt-at-sketching-ngc457/

 

Solar

2 members actually got to see and image the sun this month, (does this mean summers coming?   )

Steve (Ibbo) showed us some good Ha detail http://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/4051-a-bit-of-sun-at-last/

and Mike (Perkil8r) gave us a view in white light http://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/4103-poor-attempt-at-mid-day-sun-270213/

Widefield

A nice star trail was provided by AstroOlly http://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/4099-first-attempt-at-fixed-tripod-star-trails-around-polaris/

 

Well, when I started this I thought this is really going to be difficult but then as I viewed through the images one image stopped me in my tracks, so much so that I called Fliss in to look at it and she agreed ( and she's a muggle  )

 

And that image is.......

Mikes (Perkil8r) image of the almost full moon in colour http://www.eastmidlandsstargazers.org.uk/topic/4085-moon-24th-feb-2013/

 

Why? Because I think everything is right about it , detail, colour, contrast and composition. I would love to get an image like that.

So congrats to Mike
a key for Astrophotography Tools (APT) is on its way to you.

 

And well done all, there have been some stonking images this month, keep em coming.

 

Phil

 

 

 

[oldfruit]

Well done to Mike and all others mentioned.

[Guest Yoddha]

Great selection of stunning images!

 

Congratulations Mike!

[T A WOW]

Congrats everyone!

That full moon really is a fantastic image.

[Perkil8r]

Thanks all, I am truely shocked to have been awarded POTM. Well done to all the other participants too, some really nice images this month considering the, shall we say, "challenging" weather we have had of late.

[tbird]

Well done Mike, you shouldn't be shocked, that was a great picture of the Moon

[+RonC]

Thank you Mike for giving me the winner's prize as runner-up, you're a gentleman and a scholar !!

[PaulG]

Congrats Mike, excellent Luna capture.

Paul

[Doc]

What a lovely selection this month, and well done Mike for an awesome full moon.

[Sheila]

Nice one Mike   

 

Sheila

[Brantuk]

Fabulous moon shot Mike and well deserved PoTM - Congrats

 

And a selfless gesture passing on the prize to Ron - that's the lovely kind of act that makes EMS the terrific friendly place it is - kudos to ya buddy.

 

Well done all the runners up! And thanks once again Phil for great judging and a smashing result.

[BAZ]

I have to say that Iam amazed by the amount of images you have all posted, considering the weather.

There are some really great images, and the are nice to look through on cloudy nights.

 

Congratulations Mike, a beautiful image.

Many thanks to all our contributors, mostly for getting out in the cold and sharing your efforts!

 

Thanks to Phil for a detailed write up.

[Celeste]

Well done winning PTM gorgeous images out there guys....I wish I could do some DSO's....but I need to save my pennies for a new CCD (hopefully an Atik 314l+)

[Antares_Paul]

Superb image. Well deserved!

High five to everyone and please keep the images coming. Every single one is an inspiration.

 

Regards.

[Daz Type-R]

Congratulations Mike and well done everybody else.

Stunning effort as usual.

[catman161]

Congratulations Mike and all of the people who posted images. It is great to look through them all and it gives me something to aspire (I must not get into the darkside properly!) to! Well done to everyone

[andyboy1970]

Love that moon shot Mike, very natural looking with hints of colour which are often forced by processing, well done.

[+Ibbo]

well done Mike well deserved

[Tweedledee]

Mikes moon looks great. It looks to me like it could have been taken from orbit. A very interesting selection this month.

[Perkil8r]

Great shot mike i still can not get to stack in any thing ,well done to all and it was great of you to give the key away

Pat

That one I stacked in auto mode in the end I was stunned, it normally throws a fit if I ask it to do that with the moon.