The South Pacific Star Party - AstroImaging Competition

The Astronomical Society of New South Wales Inc. (ASNSW) is proud to announce the 2011 Astro Imaging Competition to be held during the 17th South Pacific Star Party at Wiruna, 1 - 3 April, 2011.

Spirit of the Competition:

The goal of the competition is to encourage astrophotography within the ASNSW. The spirit of the competition is to display images of astronomical objects taken by amateur astrophotographers using plausibly amateur equipment, with acknowledgement going to images which are beautiful, interesting, informative, and technically excellent or challenging given the site and equipment used.

The competition will be judged by popular vote by Star Party attendees. There is one single category: Open. The definition of “amateur equipment” is left intentionally vague, but the use of a large institutional telescope is contrary to the spirit of the competition and unlikely to attract votes. Images only peripherally related to astrophotography (eg equipment, people, kangaroos by moonlight) will not be considered. The organizers will at their sole discretion reject entries which contravene the spirit of the competition.

Entries & Prizes:

The competition is open to members of the ASNSW, and/or to Star Party attendees, whether members or not. Entries must be entirely one’s own work. Up to three images may be entered per individual. A small trophy will be awarded for first, second, and third place, with Honourable Mention for fourth and fifth place. An entrant can win at most one place: once an entrant is awarded a place, their remaining entries will be passed over.

Teams:

Team work (e.g. one photographer, one image processor) is acceptable. One may enter as a member of a team (up to three people per team), or as an individual, but not both. A team is treated as a single entity, and can therefore enter a maximum of three images, and win at most one prize.

Presentation:

Scrappy untidy work may be rejected. Each image must be on glossy A4 paper, preferably full bleed (no white border). The print may be physically cropped from A4, on one side only, to suit image aspect ratio. Write your name (or names in the case of a team) and one contact address on an opaque sticky label and attach this to the back of the image. That will identify the image without it being visible from the front. In the same envelope as the image there should be a separate A6 (ie ¼ of A4) plain white stiff card (to be displayed alongside the image) indicating the name of the object, field of view, scope, mount, camera, filters, duration of exposure, and where taken (eg Wirruna, private dome in Andes, urban backyard), and team size if relevant, plus optional (but strongly encouraged) explanatory text, for example:

NGC 2359. Field 45’ x 30’.
PlaneWave 12.5”CDK, Titan mount, permanent pier,
SBIG STL-1100M cooled monochrome camera
H-alpha 14 hrs, O-III 10 hrs, S-II 10 hrs
Penrith Council Car Park, Penrith NSW (Team of 2)

Thor’s Helmet in Canis Major is the shocked ejecta
from a Wolf-Rayett star. Narrowband filters and long
exposures were helpful when photographing this faint
object from suburbia.

The name of the photographer must not be included on the card. Entries will be accepted up to 11am on the second day of the Star Party (2nd April 2011). Please ensure you read and understand the attached terms and conditions before entering the competition.

This is an amateur event with kids and meat pies on the prowl. There is every chance that images may be lost or damaged.

For full details, refer to « Conditions of Entry »

For further information contact , Organiser, AstroImaging Competition, SPSP 19.