Exhibition
View the shortlisted entries from the 2022 competition below.
View Felix Sproll
Milkyway Arch over Pine Island
Felix Sproll
Title:“Milkyway Arch over Pine Island”
Location:Derryclare Lough, Connemara, co. Galway
Category:Back on earth
Information:I had a shot of the iconic pine Island in mind with the milkyway for a while but had to figure out the best way to shoot it. I got the perfect night to shoot last spring when it was clear and calm and even got a bit of fog coming off the water. I checked out all sides to find the best composition and alignment using the photopills app. This was the first time properly using the Sigma 14-24 at night and the tracker for the Milkyway while also doing a pano with limited time before the moon came up so I was a bit uneasy everything would work out but I didn't have to go to the back up shots. Got a nice bit of extra detail in the milkyway with the tracker but also there's a good bit light pollution in Connemara which ya wouldn't think. It's 7 pictures tracked and stitched for the sky and another 7 stacked and stitched for the foreground. There's a couple of meteors in there too, prob to small for Instagram but can you spot them? Nikon D750, Sigma 14-24 @ 14mm, Omegon Mount MiniTrack LX3 startracker. Sky 7 images tracked @ 246 sec, f3.5, ISO 1000 stitched to panorama in photoshop, foreground 7 images 6 stacked to reduce noise at 15sec, f3.5, ISO 10,000 and stitched and combined with sky in Photoshop along with other adjustments.
Share this entry:
View Adrian Hendroff
Copper Coast Fireball
Adrian Hendroff
Title:“Copper Coast Fireball”
Location:Kilmurrin, Copper Coast, Co Waterford.
Category:Back on earth
Information:Creative Description: In the early hours of 9th April, I set off to photograph the Milky Way on the Copper Coast, a two-hour drive from my home in Dublin. As the Galactic Core (the brightest part of the Milky Way) was visible for around 100 minutes, I had planned two locations, a spot overlooking some cliffs near Kilmurrin Beach and at the Tankardstown Copper Mines. At the former, I set up my kit for a sequence of 15-second exposures for the sky. Midway through this sequence, a flash of green light illuminated the sky over Dunabrattin Head. It was really bright, definitely brighter than Venus and probably just as bright as the moon. The green glow lasted around 5 seconds. When I skimmed through my shots, I was delighted to see a fireball in one exposure – I could even see its reflection on the water! Later, on checking the International Meteor Organization (IMO) website, there were around 73 witness reports (Event #2248-2022) of the same fireball from England, Wales, France and Northern Ireland. Astronomy Ireland has it on their website that fireballs are ‘quite rare and the brighter they are the rarer it is to see them’ so it’s hard to describe what capturing something like this feels like as a photographer - I was over the moon but at the same time felt very privileged. The fireball’s green glow resonated well with the area (Colouration of copper minerals found in weathered stones) and also for Ireland. It was also a bonus to get the Milky Way in the same frame… or perhaps it’s the other way around! Technical Description: Camera: Canon 5DMkIV Lens: Sigma 14mm f/1.8DG Art Sky: 15s at f/1.8, ISO3200. 9x. Tripod. Foreground: 300s at f/2.8, ISO800. 2x. Tripod. Images processed in Lightroom, stacked in Sequator and blended in Photoshop.
Share this entry:
View Aisling Mc Guire
The Bens under the Milky Way
Aisling Mc Guire
Title:“The Bens under the Milky Way”
Location:Diamond Hill, Connemara, Co Galway, Ireland
Category:Back on earth
Information:The Twelve Bens in Connemara. The milky way is the galaxy that includes our solar system. I took this image as I wanted to inspire women and young girls to see hiking and astrophotography as accessible. Equipment: Sony A7Riii + Sony 24mm lens - Panorama of 24 images in total. Night sky: 6x3 images, at: * ISO 2000 * f/1.8 * 15 seconds Foreground taken at dawn (6 images across): * ISO 100 * f/16 * 6 seconds Image processing: - Adjusted exposure, contrast, white balance and emphasised the milky way.
Share this entry:
View Tom Dinneen and Raluca Dana Lica
A Fiery Rosette
Tom Dinneen and Raluca Dana Lica
Title:“A Fiery Rosette”
Location:Nass, Co. Kildare
Category:Out of this world
Information:Description The Rosette Nebula (Caldwell 49) is an emission nebula in the constellation of Monoceros. It is 1.3 degrees wide giving it an apparent width almost three times that of our Moon. In reality it is 5,200 light years away and 65 light years across. To put that into perspective it takes light from our Sun only 5 1/2 hrs (on average) to reach Pluto. Even the Oort Cloud which is the outer most reaches of our solar system only takes lights 2 years to reach. The size and distances of these giant molecular clouds in space is truly breathtaking. Technical Details The data was captured by Raluca Dana Lica in her backyard, Nass Town, Co. Kildare. It was captured over 11 nights in March, 2022. It was taken with a William Optics GT81 (apochromatic refractor with a local length of 478mm) using a dedicated QHY268M monochromatic camera and narrowband filters. The image was processed by Tom Dinneen. In the final image the best 6hrs 40mins of Ha, OIII and SII were used. Ha is Hydrogen Alpha, OIII is Oxygen III and SII is Sulphur II. With the aid of specialised filters we are able to capture these specific gases and then map those to colours to generate a final image. In this example Ha and SII were blended to make red, Ha and OIII to make green and OIII was mapped to blue. The image was processed in PixInsight to generate a separate luminance, and a combined RGB. The stars were separated using StarXTerminator. The stars, luminosity and RGB images were brought together in Photoshop for final processing.
Share this entry:
View Aaron Kelly
The Heart Nebula
Aaron Kelly
Title:“The Heart Nebula”
Location:Ballyjamesduff, Cavan
Category:Out of this world
Information:This was my first ever narrowband image. Shooting Narrowband is when you use professional camera filters that isolate very specific spectrums of light to capture specific gasses from space that radiate light at different wavelengths. We then use the filters to capture only those wavelengths which helps capture the detail of the gasses in that target. From the moment I ordered the camera I couldn't wait to shoot my first image. I had a couple of sleepless nights waiting for the camera to arrive as it was probably one of the biggest purchases I've ever made. But when I loaded my first image it didn't disappoint, I couldn't believe the detail. I'm really looking forward to shooting more targets with it this year. Equipment: William Optics GT71 Skywatcher HEQ5 ASI2600mm 14 Hours of data: HA - 5 Hours x 5min Exp SII - 4 Hours x 5min Exp OIII - 5 Hours x 5min Exp Processed in PixInsight
Share this entry:
View Richard Sweeney
The Jewel of Orion
Richard Sweeney
Title:“The Jewel of Orion”
Location:Ladysbridge, Cork
Category:Out of this world
Information:The Orion Nebula is a celestial icon and a target I tend to come back to year after year to try to improve on. It was the first object I tried to image when I bought a telescope about five years ago. The Nebula is about 1,350 light-years away and more than 10 light-years across. A stellar nursery where new stars are born made up mostly of hydrogen and dust. In the core of the Nebula are the bright stars making up the Trapezium owing to the trapezoidal arrangement. The image was captured using a Takahashi Epsilon 160ed with a Zwo Asi2600mc colour camera. Focal length 540mm Five hours integration time in 120 second sub exposures. The sensor was cooled to -10 degrees c. The images were stacked in Astro Pixel Processor and processed in Pixinsight, Astro pixel processor and Photoshop. The image has been stretched using levels and curves. Contrast enhancement, sharpening and saturation applied with some minor noise reduction.
Share this entry:
View Anthony Lynch
Space station sun
Anthony Lynch
Title:“Space station sun”
Location:Skerries beach
Category:Out of this world
Information:I used the transit finder website to see when the space station would fly past the sun and spent 3 days going to Skerries, Donabate and Portran with no results but last Sunday the cloud finally cleared in time and I set up my celestron nexstar 4se which is the same as a 1300 mm lens at f/13, I used a white light solar filter and put my shutter speed to 1/2500 sec to get a fast shot and iso of 800. The station couldn't be seen with the naked eye and it would only take 1.4 seconds to cross the disk of the sun so timing had to be perfect so a lot of planning went into the location and timing to the millisecond plus the wind was so strong I had to set up at my car door and try use the door for shelter to stop the camera shaking. I use a Canon 6D. I managed to get 5 shots as it past the sun but this one is my favorite as it past these huge sunspots.
Share this entry:
View Sean O’ Riordan
Zodiacal Light above Cliffs of Moher
Sean O’ Riordan
Title:“Zodiacal Light above Cliffs of Moher”
Location:Cliffs of Moher, Co Clare
Category:Back on earth
Information:Creative Description: Imagine one of Ireland's most iconic landscapes. Now imagine one of the most unique phenomena that occurs on our planet. Now combine the two. Perhaps not everyone will see my vision here or agree with me but this is the vision I had when taking this image. Capturing the Zodiacal light above one of Ireland's most iconic landscapes which has been photographed many many times was a special experience for me! The zodiacal light is an eery glow that occurs In our sky during twilight after sunset or before sunrise around the months of February to March. Caused by interplanetary dust reflecting off the sunlight. Technical Description: Shot on Nikon Z6 and 14-30 wide angle lens. Focal length was 14mm and the image is comprised of 5 frames shot at ISO 5000, F4 for 20 seconds. I stacked the frames in a programme called sequator to help reduce noise. The foreground was one exposure shot at F5.6 for 30 seconds at ISO 640
Share this entry:
Gavin Sheehan
The Milky Way over Finavarra
Gavin Sheehan
Title:“The Milky Way over Finavarra”
Location:Finavarra Martello Tower, Co. Clare
Category:Back on earth
Information:Creative Description: A rare clear night in West Clare combined with a new moon and the core of the Milky Way rising behind Finavarra Martello Tower on a perfectly still Spring night. A shot I had in mind for a couple of years and once the conditions came together, it was a joy to capture. Technical Description: Sony A6400 & Samyang 12mm f/2. 16x shots for the sky 20sec, f2, ISO2500 & 3x shots for the foreground 2mins, f2, ISO800. Used Sequator to stack the sky shots for increased detail and noise reduction, Lightroom and Photoshop were used to stack the sky to the foreground exposures and edit the final shot.
Share this entry:
Daragh McDonough
Aurora from Letterkenny, Co.Donegal
Daragh McDonough
Title:“Aurora from Letterkenny, Co.Donegal”
Location:Knockybrin, a small hill to the north of Letterkenny Town, Co. Donegal
Category:Back on earth
Information:Sitting at home, back from an earlier unsuccessful cloudy trip, I happened to look at the Spaceweather stats and could see the Bz values around -10. I looked out and I couldn't believe that the clouds had cleared. So I grabbed my gear and headed up to the hill behind the house. After about 1 hour watching a strong green glow on the horizon the aurora burst into life with great pillars of light moving across the sky. What a joy to watch so close to home. Shot on Canon 6D with Samyang 14mm f2.8 lens. 6 seconds ISO 1600 f2.8 Processed in Photoshop.
Share this entry:
Joseph Cullen
The Milky Way arching over the Sperrin Mountains
Joseph Cullen
Title:“The Milky Way arching over the Sperrin Mountains”
Location:In the Sperrin Mountains near Moneyneany, Co. Derry.
Category:Back on earth
Information:The Milky Way season starts in the Spring and continues all the way through to the start of Winter but if you are trying to see it in April as I did last year then the pre-dawn hours from around 3am are the best time to try. Depending on the time of year the Milky Way can appear to stand up straight from the horizon or stretch out across the sky like a big arch. I wanted to capture the Milky Way arching across the sky from the quiet hills of the Sperrins in Co. Derry. This photo was taken just before the Milky Way core rose properly that night and was looking from the direction of Moneyneany, Co. Derry to the town of Dungiven which are the lights on the horizon off in the distance. The viewing conditions were perfect with plenty of satellites and even a barely visible M31 (Andromeda Galaxy) along the horizon to the right of the image. And now for the technical stuff. This image was taken using a simple tripod and a Sony A7 mark III camera. The sensitivity (ISO) was set to 3200 and I exposed the sensor for 10 seconds using a 24mm lens with the aperture set to f/1.4. This photo is the result of 11 vertical photos all added together. All editing was performed using Adobe Lightroom only.
Share this entry:
Treasa Giblin Frazer
The Milkyway Arch
Treasa Giblin Frazer
Title:“The Milkyway Arch”
Location:Moorlough Co. Tyrone Ireland
Category:Back on earth
Information:Having missed most of the end of the Milkyway season with the beautiful colourful Core here in the Northern Hemisphere last year, I had the opportunity on a clear night this month to try and atleast capture the full Arch before it rose too high for me. There was slight haze and some mist upon arriving at the lake but i did not let that discourage me. I found an area of the lake facing N - N/E, Set up my Star Tracker, Camera & Sigma Art 24mm Lens and started shooting.. I never done a panoramic before so i gave it my best shot. I started with four photos side by side on top half of the composition and then i aimed my camera back to the start without moving my tripods position and dropped the perspective to a lower angle and continued with four images side by side to get some foreground including myself in the last image which i used a timer to capture while i ran in front of my camera and stood still for the 30seconds exposure time. I used Photoshop to stitch the eight images together and edit the Milkyway to try and get some detail through the mist & haze. I liked including myself in this image as it gives more perspective of the immense size of our Milkyway Galaxy from Earth. Exif - Canon 6D... Sigma Art 24mm Lens & Manfrotto 055 Tripod with a Star Adventure Star Tracker attached. 30 seconds @F/2.8 - ISO 3200 for all eight images combined in to one photo
Share this entry:
Adrian Hendroff
Brandon’s Mystical Night Sky
Adrian Hendroff
Title:“Brandon’s Mystical Night Sky”
Location:Mount Brandon, Dingle Peninsula, Co Kerry.
Category:Back on earth
Information:Creative Description: Mount Brandon (952m / 3,123 feet) is one of my favourite Irish mountains. It’s the highest point outside the chain of peaks of the MacGillycuddy’s Reeks. To me, there’s something really special about its summit, right up there between sea and sky. Ever since I started having an interest in astrophotography, photographing the night sky from Brandon was high on my to-do list. In the spring, the core of the Milky Way (a starry band across the sky, and the name given to the entire galaxy we live in) becomes visible over the early hours of the day to the southeast, pretty much in line with the Brandon ridge which itself extends like an elongated prehistoric creature with sharp, angular fins. On the 5th of March this year, two days after my birthday, a window of opportunity presented itself: two full days and nights of clear skies with no moon. Brandon is one of those mountains where you might get clouded over even with the best of forecasts and with the lack of wind, can be notoriously misty too. I’ve been waiting two years for this… I simply had to try. So up I went on the pilgrim trail of Cosán na Naomh from its western side, following the Stations of the Cross. It was just after 4am when I summited. Taking a compass bearing from the snowy summit, I made my way to the exact point I needed to be on the ridge. And there, with temperatures as low as -8°C, I got set up, ready to shoot for the next hour or so. I was amazed by the amount of light pollution in the direction of Tralee but as soon as I saw the Milky Way on my LCD display, I smiled: it was worth every bit of effort. My dream came true that day: it was a perfect birthday present and such an amazing experience. Technical Description: Camera: Canon 5DMkIV Lens: Sigma 14mm f/1.8DG Art Sky: 15s at f/1.8, ISO3200. 7x. Tripod. Foreground: 180s at f/1.8, ISO800. 2x. Tripod. Images processed in Lightroom, stacked in Sequator and blended in Photoshop.
Share this entry:
Tom O’Donoghue
Mizen Head Milky Way
Tom O’Donoghue
Title:“Mizen Head Milky Way”
Location:Mizen Head, Cork
Category:Back on earth
Information:I had been to West Cork imaging on a few trips, and I wanted to tried 3 Castle Head for a Milky Way shot, However the composition just didn't work. So I moved a few Kilometers down the road to this secluded cove. I set up my sky tracker and shot 30mis of Milky Way shots that I stacked into one image. I then took a longer 3min image for the foreground from the same position. I blended both images into one to show the rocky shoreline and the night sky together. This is a 3min foreground image ISO1600 F5.6, blended with 10x 3min tracked sky shots at F/4 ISO 1600
Share this entry:
Felix Sproll
Core behind the Fishing Hut
Felix Sproll
Title:“Core behind the Fishing Hut”
Location:Ballynahinch, Connemara, Co. Galway
Category:Back on earth
Information:The Milky way core at it's best in Ireland. It gets just above the horizon just before it gets bright in spring. So you either have to stay up late or get up super early 😉 Connemara on a clear and calm night. Zoomed in to 35mm and tracked to get as much detail as possible. Stacked onto the long exposure foreground and reflection to reduce noise. Nikon d750, 24-70mm @35mm. Omegon Mount MiniTrack LX3 Startracker. Ground 259 sec, f3.5, ISO 800. Sky 254 sec, f3.5, ISO 1000. Blended in Photoshop and other contrast adjustments.
Share this entry:
Josh Mathews
Timeless
Josh Mathews
Title:“Timeless”
Location:Inishbofin
Category:Back on earth
Information:The Milky Way core rising behind the fort at Inishbofin. It was a beautiful and warm midsummer night with a corncrake calling from a nearby meadow. Inishbofin is a special and 'timeless' place - may the light pollution ever stay low and the corncrakes keep calling! When the fort was first built, the islanders would have been greeted by a very similar scene. Off course, the Milky Way is much clearer in the photo than seen by the naked eye but the view of the night sky from the island is nevertheless incredible and I would encourage you to check it out sometime! The image is made from 28 individual photos stitched together in a 4x7 grid into a single "panoramic" image. Each photo was taken with my Sony A7III and 135mm lens at f2.5 and ISO 640. The lens' longer focal length was the key ingredient to obtaining a greater level of detail visible in the Milky Way. The 24 photos for the background stars were all tracked using a skywatcher star adventurer tracker for 91s. Immediately after that, I turned off the tracker and photographed the 4 photos for the fort with 121s exposures. Every photo was taken continuously one after the other without moving the tripod and only stopping in between to carefully change the direction the camera was facing to capture each portion of the shot. I started taking the photos around 1am and didn't finish until about 2.30am! The final image is 156mp though I had to downsample it to meet the contest's file size requirements. I stitched the photos together with software called PTGui. I corrected the white balance, contrast and exposure of the final image and used various techniques in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop to make the Milky Way stand out while ensuring the integrity of the end result.
Share this entry:
Josh Mathews
Na Gealáin Thuaidh
Josh Mathews
Title:“Na Gealáin Thuaidh”
Location:Glassilaun Beach, Connemara
Category:Back on earth
Information:The Aurora Borealis dancing in pillars over a beach in Connemara. The Andromeda galaxy is also visible towards the top right corner. We're entering a period of increased solar activity over the next few years giving a greater possibility of spotting the Northern Lights over places like this. I'm sure DIAS would like to tell you all about sun spots and the solar cycle... The photo is a single 15s exposure from a series of photos that I'm making into a time-lapse video. It was taken with my Sony A7III and 24mm lens at ISO 1600 and f1.4. It was lightly touched up in Adobe Lightroom - namely the white balance, exposure and contrast.
Share this entry:
Sean O’ Riordan
The Burren Constellations
Sean O’ Riordan
Title:“The Burren Constellations”
Location:The Burren, Co Clare
Category:Back on earth
Information:Creative Description: For me The Burren is a part of Ireland that really encompasses the word "otherworldly". So when I was thinking of ways to photograph it, I could not resist the temptation to shoot it under starry skies and in this particular image we are looking at a part of the sky that has many different constellations present. This compliments the otherworldly cracks and crevices of the Burren landscape nicely. Technical Description: Shot on Nikon Z6 and 14-30 wide angle lens. Focal length was 14mm. The sky is comprised of 3 frames shot at F4, ISO 800 for 120 seconds using a star tracker to keep the stars sharp and prevent star trails. The foreground was shot at aperture of F5.6, ISO 2500 and for 145 seconds.
Share this entry:
Shane lavelle
Milkyway over Croaghaun
Shane lavelle
Title:“Milkyway over Croaghaun”
Location:Achill Island, Ireland
Category:Back on earth
Information:A photograph of our milkyway galaxy arching over Croaghaun Mountain and cliffs on Achill Island, on the western edge of Ireland. The dark skies of the west of Ireland and the raw, wild landscape of Mayo's Atlantic coast inspired me to take this photo. This is a panoramic view of the milkyway shot with a Canon 6D and Irix 15mm lens. The photo is a blend of two panoramas, one for the night sky and one for the landscape. The panorama is shot at 25s f2.5 ISO 500 with four images stacked for each frame of the panorama. The landscape is shot at shortly after sunset with settings 1.6s f10 ISO 100. The night sky images are stacked and blended into a panorama. The landscape images are also blended into a panorama. Both panoramas are then edited in lightroom and blended together in photoshop.
Share this entry:
Tom O’Hanlon
The Pilgrim's Path
Tom O’Hanlon
Title:“The Pilgrim's Path”
Location:Croghan, Co. Offaly
Category:Back on earth
Information:Creative Description: This image was taken at Croghan Hill, the hill is the remains of an extinct volcano and rises from the Bog of Allen in County Offaly. Every year on St. Patrick's day there is a pilgrimage to the hill where locals climb the hill and drink from the holy well. I knew that there would still be people climbing it well into the evening and thought that they would give a great contrast to the moon. I was concerned with the cloud cover but was very lucky that they broke just in time and the Moon emerged from behind them, actually adding to the composition in my opinion. It was planned using google maps and a photo planning app called PhotoPills, where calculations can be made to determine the exact time the image could be taken. Technical Description: This image was shot using a crop sensor canon body, namely the Canon M50. This has a crop factor of 1.6x, giving my sigma 150 - 600mm a field of view equivalent to 960mm at 600mm. It was taken on the 17th of March, 2022. Technically it was taken the day before the full moon, which meant a lot more available light on the foreground with the moon at 99.5%. It has an iso of 125, at f/9.0 and a shutter speed of 1/80. It was taken at a distance of 2.3km away from the hill, meaning that the moon would have a diameter equivalent to 20 meters or so. Very basic adjustments including raising of whites, slight lift of shadows, lowering of highlights and added vibrance and saturation as it was a RAW file.
Share this entry:
Tom O’Hanlon
Copper Coast Starlight
Tom O’Hanlon
Title:“Copper Coast Starlight”
Location:Ballydwan, Co. Waterford
Category:Back on earth
Information:Creative Description: I was inspired to take this image after visiting family in Waterford, they recommended a drive on the Coppercoast. I was blown away by its beauty but also by how harsh and rugged this coastline can be. I visited various beaches and coves, but Ballydwan was one of my favorites and really made me want to capture a memorizing milkyway above this natural beauty. I had to unfortunately wait for the milky way core to return to our skies, which is roughly the end of February, but on the weekend of March 4th 2022 it aligned beautifully. There was no Moon and a weekend of clear skies so I booked accommodation in Annestown and spent the weekend shooting astrophotography. Waterford is great for Astro as it is a south facing coastline, and while you can pick up some light pollution depending if you are facing slightly south east or south west its impacts are minimal, they are the darkest skies i have shot which just makes the milky way pop. Technical Description: This is a blended shot, for the purpose of noise reduction but also making use of different focal lengths. The foreground was shot on a Canon R6 at 16mm, at ISO 1600, f/5.0 for 240 seconds at 3.39am on 06/03/2022. I then used some subtle light painting on foreground on shorter exposures of 6 seconds and blended using opacity and lighten blend mode in photoshop to taste. The sky was shot using a Skywatcher Star Adventurer 2i star tracker and a Canon R6, at 51mm, f/4.0 and iso of 2500, for 120 seconds. These 4 images were stacked inside of Deep Sky Stacker. These images were taken at 4.45am to 4.55am. I had to wait for the Milky Way core to be visible, and was conscious of the tide coming in hence shooting foreground shots first. The sky and foreground images were then blended together using photoshop, with only basic edits including raising of whites, adding Dehaze, contrast, lowering highlights and lifting shadows. Also increasing the Vibrance and Saturation of the image and minimal sharpening and noise reduction.
Share this entry:
Laurynas Zubrickas
Ancient History
Laurynas Zubrickas
Title:“Ancient History”
Location:Corcomroe Abbey, County Clare
Category:Back on earth
Information:I had an idea to experiment with light painted nightscapes and after a number of evenings spent researching suitable locations I came across this Abbey. It is located in a dark part of the Burren in county Clare and has lots of ancient history around it. I have to admit it, I was a little uneasy spending the night in a cemetery in relatively middle of nowhere. I couldn't help but recall folklore about the supernatural. Once at the Abbey I could understand why these tales exists as a number of foxes nearby made sounds that people in the past may have thought originated from a banshee. I setup my equipment and got to work regardless. The final image consists of three individual panoramas, a tracked sky, a dark foreground of the Abbey and a light painted foreground of the Abbey. The equipment I used: Nikon D810, Nikon 28mm f1.8, Sky Watcher Star Adventurer tracker and an LED light panel set at 4000K. Each sky panel (6 in total) was shot tracked for 3 minutes at f2.8, ISO800. The foreground panels (24 in total, 12 for the dark foreground and 12 for light painting) were shot for 15 seconds at f5.0, ISO800. The sky panorama was created using PTGUI, the two Abbey panoramas were created in Lightroom. The final image was merged in Photoshop using masking techniques. The light painted sections of the Abbey were selectively introduced to highlight the subject. Contrast and colour balance adjustments were made to bring out the detail in the Milky Way.
Share this entry:
Laurynas Zubrickas
Guiding Light
Laurynas Zubrickas
Title:“Guiding Light”
Location:Hook Head Lighthouse, County Wexford
Category:Back on earth
Information:This is the shot I've been chasing for years and finally everything fell into place. I arrived at the Hook Lighthouse at 3 a.m. just as the Milky Way core started to rise over the horizon. It was just above freezing and the sky was incredibly clear. I chose to name the Image "Guiding Light" as the Hook is the world's oldest operating lighthouse with the Milky Way above representing ancient techniques of using stars to navigate the seas. The final image is a panorama that consists of a tracked sky and blended foreground. The equipment I used: Nikon D810, Nikon 28mm f1.8, Sky Watcher Star Adventurer tracker. Each sky panel (10 in total) was shot tracked for 2 minutes at f2.8, ISO800. The foreground panels (11 in total) were shot for 30 seconds at f4.0, ISO400. The sky and foreground panoramas were created separately using PTGUI and merged in Photoshop using masking techniques. Contrast and colour balance adjustments were made to bring out the detail in the Milky Way.
Share this entry:
Enda O’Loughlin
Forest Moon Rising over Slieve Aughty
Enda O’Loughlin
Title:“Forest Moon Rising over Slieve Aughty”
Location:Looking at the trees on the Slieve Aughty Hills from my front door in Kilchreest, Loughrea, Co. Galway.
Category:Back on earth
Information:As the seasons change and the moon rises and sets everyday, there is only one specific month in the year the full Moon rises over the Slieve Aughty mountain area, and this is in May, and as we live in Ireland we don't always get them clear skys when the Moon is at its maximum visibility. As it was a Wednesday night on th 26th May 2021, I was not able to venture two far from home as I was to be up the following morning for 6:30am, so why not shoot the moon from my front driveway, I had seen the moon the previous few evenings rising over the trees on the Slieve Aughty Mountain so I decided if the weather was playing ball during the week I would try and grab a photo of the Moon at its max visible fullness rising over the trees. I was thinking this was going to give a great prospective of the Moon size. I was happy with what I saw on the back of the Camera that night, Walking Distance: outside my front Door, Clothing and Footwear: Pajamas and Flip-flops, Equipment: Nikon D810, with Nikon 200-500 mm f/5.6 mounted on a Monfrotto Tripod with a LenMaster RH2 Gimbal Head. Settings: 1/100sec at f/5.6, ISO200 at 500mm. Date 26-May-2021 at 22:02:56
Share this entry:
Dara Callinan
Andromeda
Dara Callinan
Title:“Andromeda”
Location:Back garden
Category:Out of this world
Information:The Andromeda galaxy is our nearest large galaxy, 2.5 million light years away, and I wanted to capture it's imposing figure in the sky, including the dusty bands which encircle it. I also wanted to capture narrowband data of the hydrogen alpha emission line, which shows as red specks dotted around the galaxy. I think this adds a new dimension to the already magnificent object. Imaged over 3 nights. The best data selected resulted in a total integration time of about 7 hours. This includes 1 hour's worth of Ha exposures shot at 5mins each. LRGB exposures were 2 minutes. A 250mm f4.9 telescope on an equatorial mount was used. A dedicated monochrome astrophotography camera was the imaging device, capturing Luminance, Red, Green, Blue and Ha data with associated filters. Dithering was used to reduce noise and allow for drizzle/greater resolution in processing. Calibration frames (Bias/Darks/Flats) were used in preprocessing to reduce noise and vignetting. Calibration, alignment, stacking and most of the processing was done in PixInsight, including combining the Ha data with the red channel. Additional adjustments were made in Photoshop.
Share this entry:
Dara Callinan
Cloudy Skies
Dara Callinan
Title:“Cloudy Skies”
Location:Back garden
Category:Out of this world
Information:Pictured is primarily the North America Nebula (left) and the Pelican Nebula (right). Both are named due to their appearance. This nebulosity in this region always reminded me of clouds moving across the sky, especially near the bottom of the North America Nebula (known as the Cygnus wall) and other corners where the reddish clouds look superimposed on a blue sky. This is a false-colour narrowband image, where light from different gases in the nebulae have been isolated and assigned their own colour channel in the RGB image. In reality, the nebulae are dominated by hydrogen gas which glows red, however in this image the hydrogen gas has been muted somewhat and assigned to green. The other gases, sulfur and oxygen are assigned to red and blue respectively. Aside from providing alternate views of nebulae with many possible assignments, narrowband imaging also provides an insight into the makeup of the nebula itself. Taken over multiple nights in July 2021. The best 5 minute exposures were used for a total integration time of roughly 8 hours. A 250mm f4.9 telescope on an equatorial mount was used. A dedicated monochrome astrophotography camera was the imaging device, using narrowband Ha, Oiii and Sii filters. Dithering and calibration frames were used to reduce noise. Calibration, alignment, stacking and the bulk of the processing (stretching images, combining channels, noise reduction, star reduction) was done in PixInsight. Final adjustments were made in Photoshop.
Share this entry:
Jason Murphy
The Heart Nebula (IC 1805)
Jason Murphy
Title:“The Heart Nebula (IC 1805)”
Location:ENNIS CO CLARE
Category:Out of this world
Information:The Heart Nebula (also known as the Running dog nebula), IC 1805, Sharpless 2-190, is some 7500 light years away from Earth and is located in the Perseus Arm of the Galaxy in the constellation Cassiopeia. It was discovered by William Herschel on 3 November 1787. It is an emission nebula showing glowing ionized hydrogen gas and darker dust lanes. This was taken over 2 nights from my back garden in Ennis town. Imaging camera: zwo 533mc pro colour Astro cam Telescope: Williams Optics GT 71 Filter: Optolong L-eXtreme 100 x 5 minute sub exposures 20 flats 20 bias It was processed in Pixinsight and Photoshop This is was processed using a method that emulates the Hubble Palette. a colour scheme that creates what is called “false color” imaging by usually using narrow-band filters and assigning the data captured with each narrow-band-filtered channel to one of the red, green, or blue colors in an RGB image. I used a technique that can simulate this, with a colour camera and a 7nm dual band filter. I then split the colour channels in Pixinsight and re-combine them to create this style.
Share this entry:
Richard Sweeney
Cone Nebula
Richard Sweeney
Title:“Cone Nebula”
Location:Ladysbridge, Cork
Category:Out of this world
Information:The beautiful reds of this region and the chance to capture Hubble's Variable Nebula were my inspiration for this image. Most of the red visible here is a result of ionised hydrogen and is part of a much larger area of star formation. Located at a distance of about 2700 light years from earth. It gets its name from the cone shaped object near the center of the image. The greyish looking object on the right of the image is Hubble's Variable Nebula, named after American astronomer Edwin P. Hubble. It's a fascinating object whose brightness varies over relatively short periods of time. Images captured over a period of months would demonstate the changes in apparent brightness. Its variability is believed to arise when dense clouds of dust near the star R Monocerotis create shadows that pass across the nebula. The image was captured using a Takahashi Epsilon 160ed with a Zwo Asi2600mc colour camera. Focal length 540mm Five hours integration time in 120 second sub exposures. The sensor was cooled to -10 degrees c. 4.5 hours rgb and 2.5 hours of Ha using a Ha filter. 180 second exposures in rgb and 300 second exposures in Ha The images were stacked in Astro Pixel Processor and processed in Pixinsight, Astro pixel processor and Photoshop. The image has been stretched using levels and curves. Contrast enhancement, sharpening and saturation applied with some minor noise reduction. The Ha was added in Photoshop using blend mode lighten on the red channel of the Ha data.
Share this entry:
Gaelle Lacquement
The Moon
Gaelle Lacquement
Title:“The Moon”
Location:Schull
Category:Out of this world
Information:The picture was taken at 07:16am in the morning. The Moon was appearing clearly in the morning sky. I wondered if it would be easier to take a picture of the Moon in day light. If I would get more details of its surface or if it wouldn't make any difference for my camera. So I put on my telephoto lens (70-300mm) and took a few pictures. My conclusions at the time were that the light outside was just bright enough and the moon was not shining as much as she does at night therefore I didn't need my tripod, the quality of the picture is a bit nicer than usual and it did give me a little more details considering the capacities of my camera.
Share this entry:
Martin McCormack
Cassiopeia's Soul
Martin McCormack
Title:“Cassiopeia's Soul”
Location:Dublin
Category:Out of this world
Information:IC 1848, commonly called the Soul nebula, is a large emission nebula in the constellation Cassiopeia. This nebula is near IC 1805, the Heart nebula, with the pair being called the Heart and Soul Nebulae. Equipment and Exposures: Scope: William Optics 61mm Camera: ZWO 1600MM PRO Mount: Skywatcher HEQ5 Filters: ZWO 7nm Ha/Sii/Oiii/3nm Oiii, ZWO RGB Exposures: 70x10m Ha / 65x10m Sii / 75x10m Oiii(3nm)/ RBG (30sx58 each) ~ 36.5hours
Share this entry:
Martin McCormack
Widefield shot of Cygnus and Cepheus regions
Martin McCormack
Title:“Widefield shot of Cygnus and Cepheus regions”
Location:Carndonagh, Co. Donegal
Category:Out of this world
Information:The Cygnus and Cepheus constellation regions shot with a dual band filter and OSC. Some of the most photographed nebulas are captured here, including the North American nebula, Pelican Nebula, Cocoon Nebula, Elephant's Trunk nebula, veil complex and many more. Camera: ZWO 294MC Pro Lens: Sigma Art 24mm F1.4 DG Exposures: 30s x ~ 300 and 60s x ~ 300 Filter: L'Enhance dual band filter Mount: Sky Guider Pro Location: Carndonagh, Co. Donegal, Ireland Processing: Stacked in Astro Pixel Processor, processed in PixInsight and finished in Photoshop
Share this entry:
Sullyvan Morfoisse
The Orion and Running Man Nebula from Connemara
Sullyvan Morfoisse
Title:“The Orion and Running Man Nebula from Connemara”
Location:Claddaghduff, Co. Galway
Category:Out of this world
Information:I started this hobby about 4 months ago, this was originally a test shot using a new image capturing method in a rare spell of clear skies in Connemara. I simply pointed my telescope to the brightest object I could see. In the middle is the Orion Nebula, made up of clouds of gas, dust and about 2,800 stars. The bright center comprises large, young stars which illuminate the surrounding clouds, giving it these vibrant colors. It is so bright that it can be seen in the naked eye, as can be done in dark Connemara skies. On the right the Running Man Nebula which isn't as bright as the Orion nebula but fits nicely in the frame with its bluer shade. Equipment: -Telescope: Skywatcher Heritage 150P (150mm aperture, 750mm F/5) -Mount: Explore Scientific EXOS-2 PMC-8 -Camera: Canon 600 non-modified -Laptop to control both tracking mount and camera 60x30" light frames (30min total exposure) 60 calibration frames Frames stacked and processed using Siril, Adobe Lightroom
Share this entry:
Kevin molloy
Horsehead and Flame Nebulas
Kevin molloy
Title:“Horsehead and Flame Nebulas”
Location:Rathcabbin
Category:Out of this world
Information:I captured the image of The Horsehead and Flame Nebulas with my 100mm F5.8 Omegon apochromatic refractor mounted on a Skywatcher EQ6 GOTO mount and Omegon veTEC 571 C Color camera @ 300 gain. Tracking was by APM 50mm guide scope and Meade DSI 1 using PHD software. Total light frames were 66x120 sec +20 120 sec dark frames and 20 1/500 sec flat frames.Stacking was done by Deepskystacker and post processing in Photoshop.
Share this entry:
Adam Jeffers
M81 - Spiral Galaxy in Ursa Major
Adam Jeffers
Title:“M81 - Spiral Galaxy in Ursa Major”
Location:From my home in Cookstown, N. Ireland
Category:Out of this world
Information:Creative Description: What we are looking at here is a large spiral galaxy located outside own Milky Way galaxy. The circular wisps of light are the spiral arms and are made up from millions and millions of stars. The galaxy is so far away that the individual stars are indistinguishable, and they coalesce as a smear of light to create the arms. And much like a catherine wheel firework, the whole galaxy is rotating, causing the spiral appearance. This galaxy is also know as Bodes Nebula, named after the German astronomer Johann Elert Bodes who discovered it almost 250 years ago. I try to imagine how he felt when he first saw it and feel very lucky that I am able to capture in incredible detail the same object now from my back garden in the evening after work. Technical Description: I used a blue tube Skywatcher 10" reflector telescope on a Mesu e200 mount with a ZWO 2600MC colour camera. The focal length was 1205mm at F4.7. I captured many 180s subframes over several nights to give me a total of 12 hours exposure. The subframes were then stacked in Astro Pixel Processor, and final adjustments were made in Adobe Photoshop.
Share this entry:
Jonathan Power
Waterford Moon
Jonathan Power
Title:“Waterford Moon”
Location:Ballymacaw Co. Waterford
Category:Out of this world
Information:My partner loves the moon and for Valentines day, I said too her that I would give her the moon so I went to a secluded beach and shot what I could. I am using a Canon 7D Mark ii and this was shot using a Sigma 300mm lens. This was shot at f/11 with an exposure time of 1/125
Share this entry:
Alex Labunskij
Solar Eclipse 2021
Alex Labunskij
Title:“Solar Eclipse 2021”
Location:Greystones, Co. Wicklow
Category:Out of this world
Information:Solar Eclipse 2021 To take this image I've drove out to a nearest hill with my 152/1200mm achromatic refractor and a tracking mount. Although the weather wasn't promising from the start it started to pick up later allowing to capture the eclipse at its maximum. Taken on to Nikon D800, single shot, Celestron 152/1200mm, Baader solar film filter.
Share this entry:
Aaron Kelly
Barnards Loop
Aaron Kelly
Title:“Barnards Loop”
Location:Ballyjamesduff, Cavan
Category:Out of this world
Information:When I originally got into astrophotography I recall seeing images from Barnards loop and thinking, one day I'm going to shoot that widefield and try to capture as much of it as possible. I then realised how much of a challenge that was. This has been a project for me for the last two years with a couple of attempts and start again. I'm extremely happy with how this image turned out. Its shrarp, has captured most of the main targets and has a ton of HA (the red gas in the image). Barnard's Loop (catalogue designation Sh 2-276) is an emission nebula in the constellation of Orion. It is part of the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex which also contains the Dark Horsehead and Bright Orion nebulae. The loop takes the form of a large arc centered approximately on the Orion Nebula. The stars within the Orion Nebula are believed to be responsible for ionizing the loop. This image features: The Orion Nebula - M42 The Running Man - SH2-279 The Horsehead - IC434 The Flame - SH2-277 Barnards Loop - SH2-276 Equipment: Samyang 135mm Lens ASI2600MC-P Skywatcher HEQ5 L-Enhance 10 hours consisting of 2min and 10min exposures Processed in PixInsight & finished in Photoshop
Share this entry:
Ciaran O’Donnell
Flight of the Butterfly
Ciaran O’Donnell
Title:“Flight of the Butterfly”
Location:Jordanstown, Newtownabbey
Category:Out of this world
Information:I did a large mosaic of the Cygnus area last year, and ever since i have wanted to return and do a higher-res image of the dark nebula around the Sadr region. This is IC 1318, also known as the Butterfly Nebula. It is an emission nebula in the constellation Cygnus (the Swan) surrounding the star Sadr, which is at the centre of Cygnus' cross. I took this over 7 nights during Aug & Sep 2021 with a Skywatcher 80ED telescope and a Qhy268m mono camera, all riding on a Skywatcher HEQ5-Pro mount. I used 3 filters, Sulphur (Sii), Hydrogen (Ha), and Oxygen (Oiii) and combined them using the Hubble Palette. In total, the image consists of nearly 12 hours of exposure.
Share this entry:
Paul Greene
Rosette Nebula
Paul Greene
Title:“Rosette Nebula”
Location:Backgarden in Armagh
Category:Out of this world
Information:This was my first attempt at Rosette Nebula SH2-275 taken from back garden with a small refracting telescope a William Optics ZenithStar61. This was 45 x 2min exposures using a small portable tracking mount and a dedicated Astro camera, images were stacked together and post processed.
Share this entry:
Sara Harvey
Jellyfish Nebula (IC 443)
Sara Harvey
Title:“Jellyfish Nebula (IC 443)”
Location:Backgarden, Cork
Category:Out of this world
Information:Creative description The Jellyfish Nebula - also known as IC 443 and Sh2-248 - is a supernova remnant located 5,000 lightyears away. The tendrils and fat bulbous head are what give this deep-sky object its name, as it resembles a cosmic jellyfish floating through the Universe. The Jellyfish Nebula is all that remains of a massive star that ran out of fuel and exploded as a supernova, leaving behind a shell of glowing gas. From the first time I saw an image of this, I wanted to image it myself more than any other deep sky object. It is such a dramatic nebula Equipment used Telescope: William Optics Z73II (FL430, F5.9, Aperature 73mm). Flattener: WO73a field flattener. Filters: Astronomiks 6nm narrow band filters Sii, Oiii, Ha Mount: EQ6-R pro Guide camera: ZWO ASI 120MM Imaging camera: ZWO ASI1600MM Guide scope: ZWO 30mm mini guide scope Imaged between 4Oct-3Nov 2021 Ha: 155x240" (10.3hr) (gain: 139.00) -20°C bin 1x1 Oiii: 156x240" (10.4hr) (gain: 139.00) -20°C bin 1x1 Sii: 140x240" (9.3hr) (gain: 139.00) -20°C bin 1x1 Processed with Astropixel Processer, Starnet++, and Photoshop
Share this entry: