Exhibition
View this year's winner's in the gallery below.
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Sara Harvey
M51 - A Galactic Dance
Sara Harvey
Title:“M51 - A Galactic Dance”
Location:Cork
Category:Out of this world
Information:I have loved astronomy since a child, and always wondered about space and what else is out there. To be able to image a galaxy, something I would never have dreamed I could do, is actually a dream come true. To think there are billions of stars, surrounded by billions more planets, with whatever wonders or even life there might be, and it all fits on my little 1 inch camera sensor is mind blowing. The Whirlpool Galaxy is 31 million light years from Earth and is similar in size to our own Milky Way. It has a face-on appearance, as seen from Earth, showing its distinct spiral structure and galactic core. The spiral arms are packed with stars gas and dust and making perfect conditions for new stars to be born, as that gas and dust coalesces, compresses and collapses to ignite star-birth. Hot young stars glow bright blue along the arms, while older, yellower stars glow closer to the centre. The Whirpool Galaxy is gravitationally interacting with a smaller galaxy NGC 5195. The latter is pulling on a spiral arm causing lots of star formation in the process. The small galaxy has been gliding past the Whirlpool for hundreds of millions of years. Technical description Target: M51 Whirlpool galaxy Telescope: Lacerta 250 F4 with Lacerta Coma Corrector GPU Camera: ZWO ASI2600MC Pro Mount: Skywatcher Eq6R-Pro Guidescope: TS optics 60mm & ZWO ASImini120mm Filters: Optolong Lpro - 10 hours, -10dC, Gain 0 Optolong Lextreme - 6 hours, -10dC, Gain 100 Extracted the Ha data from the dualband filter and added to the colour image. Software: ASIAIR, Astro Pixel Processor, Pixinsight & Photoshop Imaged between: 22Feb2023 to 19Mar2023 Location: Cork, Backgarden Bortle 7
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Adrian Hendroff
Ghost Ship
Adrian Hendroff
Title:“Ghost Ship”
Location:Port Láirge Ship Wreck, Co Wexford
Category:Back on earth
Information:The Port Láirge is a ship wreck lying beached in Bannow Bay near Saltmills in County Wexford. The rusting ship was once a steam dredger with the Waterford Harbour Commission from around 1907 up to the 1980s. Its wreck makes an interesting subject for photography and since I became aware of its potential I have always wondered if I could incorporate it as part of a night sky image. As I got out of the car, I was surprised to see how dark the area around Bannow Bay is at night. As the tide was out, I carefully wandered out on the mudflats which was laced with seaweed. The ship wreck was an eerie sight at night, especially as I approached it. I walked to the ship’s end and back again looking for a satisfying composition that featured both the ship and the milky way in equal measure. It is a long ship so finding the best angle took some time. As I took some test shots, I was pleasantly surprised to see the faint glow of the aurora borealis lighting up the northern sky. So I repositioned my tripod to include as much of the pink glow to the left of my frame as I possibly could. The Northern Lights, albeit a faint glow, certainly ended up as an icing on the cake in my final image! Technical Description: Camera: Canon 5DMkIV Lens: Sigma 14mm f/1.8DG Art Sky: 15s at f/1.8, ISO6400. 6x. Tripod. Foreground: 300s at f/2, ISO800. Tripod. Images processed in Lightroom, stacked in Sequator and blended in Photoshop.
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David Mackie
The Spaghetti Nebula
David Mackie
Title:“The Spaghetti Nebula”
Location:East County Galway
Category:Out of this world
Information:The Spaghetti Nebula, or to give it its more correct, catalogue name, Simeis 147 is a Super Nova remnant, meaning that what we see is the dust and gas which was blown into space by the enormous explosion of a Super Nova. This nebula lies on the border of two of our winter constellations, Taurus and Auriga. It has a huge apparent size with a diameter of around 3 degrees. By comparison our full moon has a diameter of only one half of a degree. The Spaghetti Nebula is around 3,000 light years distant and is around 160 light years in diameter. It is thought that the super nova which formed it took place some 40,000 years ago. This image was captured from a back garden in East County Galway on 13 & 14 December 2022. It is made up of 200 x 180s exposures for a total exposure (integration) time of 10 hours. Equipment used ; Sharpstar 61EDPHii scope (61mm Diameter 275mm Focal length), ASI2600MC Camera, Skywatcher NEQ6 pro mount, Optolong L-eNhance filter. Full stacking and post processing was carried out in Pixinsight
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Enda Kelly
When the planets align, lunar occultation of Mars.
Enda Kelly
Title:“When the planets align, lunar occultation of Mars.”
Location:Wicklow Town
Category:Out of this world
Information:One of the most spectacular occultation events happened on the 8th of December 2022 when we had a Full Moon occulting Mars during its opposition. I had been waiting for this event since December 2021 and it did not disappoint. A truly rare, coincidental and spectacular naked eye event. This image shows Mars right before it disappeared behind the Moon from our perspective. This was shot with a Celestron C11 XLT telescope and an Altair 385c planetary camera. I had a very small window to take a capture of Mars and then a capture of the Moon before Mars disappeared. I processed the Mars shot separately from the Full Moon shot as they both required different exposures due to the difference in magnitude, but this a 100% accurate depiction of the moment of the occult with the images being separated by no more than 1 minute. Same telescope and camera at almost the same time.
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Patryk Sadowski
Manannán mac Lir & Aurora
Patryk Sadowski
Title:“Manannán mac Lir & Aurora”
Location:Gortmore Viewpoint - Co.Derry
Category:Back on earth
Information:Lady Aurora is back - in a magnitude of its own What a display! Coming to this place, I did not expect that the aurora will provide us with such a spectacle. It lasted literally 30 minutes but on a scale I haven't seen since 2013. Single frame on of many Equipment: Camera: Sony A7rIV Lens: 16-35mm @ 23mm Excposure: 25s, ISO640
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Keith Levins
The Almighty Arch
Keith Levins
Title:“The Almighty Arch”
Location:Bray head Kerry
Category:Back on earth
Information:I have been chasing this shot for two years. Valentia Island has the best skies in Ireland in my opinion, it’s just the weather never plays ball. But on this night it was probably the best conditions I have ever shot Astro since I picked up the camera in late 2018. This shot is the most technical shot I have ever taken, big panos are hard to do, especially tracked ones. I arrived on the night and it was a bit windy which is never great when tracking but when I saw the files after a few test shots I knew things would go alright for me. I started the pano at 2.20am and finished it at 4.20am. Sky and foreground just about got it done. Then it was pray to the heavens that it will all come together when processing and my prayers were answered, personally it is my favourite shot to date. Gear used z6 Nikon Astro mod ioptron sky guide pro 20mm Nikon Sky is 3 rows x 10 x 150 seconds f2.8 iso 1250 Foreground is 3x10 6 shots per panel iso 6400 30 seconds
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Adrian Hendroff
Illuminate
Adrian Hendroff
Title:“Illuminate”
Location:Hook Lighthouse, Hook Head, Co Wexford
Category:Back on earth
Information:Situated at the tip of a peninsula in County Wexford, the Hook Lighthouse is the oldest intact operational lighthouse in the world. Built in 1172, it is one of the favourite attractions on Ireland’s Ancient East. Photographers love it, they come to capture the heavy swells, Supermoon and golden hour here - these all add to the magic and aura that is associated with the place. However, I wanted to try something different and slightly more ambitious: to photograph the milky way stretching across the night sky over the lighthouse. A clear night in April presented me this unique opportunity. The tide was out and there was only a light breeze - meaning I could safely venture onto the rock shelf on the western end of the lighthouse and aim my lens towards it. It took nearly over a dozen tries to make sure the highlights were not overblown in my frame. I did this by blocking my camera lens with a black card each time the beam of the lighthouse rotated in my direction. It was not easy – as there were three beams to contend with! I was happy with my final frame which shows two beams of the lighthouse illuminating the milky way which stretched across the Wexford sky above it. Technical Description: Camera: Canon 5DMkIV Lens: Sigma 14mm f/1.8DG Art Sky: 15s at f/2, ISO6400. 2x. Tripod. Foreground: 120s at f/2.2, ISO800. Tripod. Images processed in Lightroom, stacked in Sequator and blended in Photoshop.
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Orion Mosaic
Ronan James Hunt
Title:“Orion Mosaic”
Location:Brandon Bay, Co. Kerry
Category:Out of this world
Information:Under the pristine dark skies of Kerry, the constellation Orion presents an array of awe-inspiring nebulae, captured in this 6-panel astrophotography mosaic. Each panel represents approximately 40 minutes of exposure, unveiling the intricate details and vibrant hues of Orion's celestial phenomena. The mosaic showcases the some of the following nebulae: Orion Nebula (M42), a stellar nursery where new stars are formed. Running Man Nebula (NGC 1977), characterized by the dark dust lanes creating a silhouette. Horsehead Nebula (B33), a dark nebula contrasting against the bright emission nebula IC 434. Flame Nebula (NGC 2024), a vivid emission nebula glowing with ionized gas. Boogeyman Nebula (LDN 1622), a dark nebula resembling a mysterious, ghostly figure. Witch Head Nebula (IC 2118), a reflection nebula with a distinct witch-like profile. M78, a reflection nebula with a striking blue hue. Barnard's Loop (Sh 2-276), an immense emission nebula encircling the Orion constellation. Equipment used: Samyang 135mm lens at F3.2 ZWO ASI2600MC Pro camera Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer GTi The detailed, high-resolution mosaic is a testament to the extraordinary conditions provided by the dark skies of Kerry. Processing was complete using APP, Pixinsight, Photoshop and Lightroom.
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Martin McCormack
Winter Rose
Martin McCormack
Title:“Winter Rose”
Location:Dublin City
Category:Out of this world
Information:The Rosette Nebula is a large giant molecular cloud in the Monoceros constellation. The Nebula sits in the Milky Way about 5,000 light-years from Earth. Massive stars at its core have blasted a hole in the cloud of material with radiation and flows of charged gas particles, called stellar wind. Also referred to as “The Skull Nebula”, the Rosette Nebula is a stunning astrophotography target for your camera and telescope. ASKAR FRA400 72 mm f/5.6 Quintuplet Flatfield APO Scope ZWO 2600MM Pro Camera Skywatcher HEQ5 Mount Exposures: Ha x 45 x 10m Sii x 25 x 10m Oiii x 35 x 10m RGB for stars (60sx30 each)
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Laurynas Zubrickas
The Belt and the Scabbard
Laurynas Zubrickas
Title:“The Belt and the Scabbard”
Location:Arklow, Co. Wicklow
Category:Out of this world
Information:The Orion Belt and Nebula are some of the most recognisable features of the night sky. I've captured the Orion Nebula every year since I started this hobby in 2020, it's hard not to as it is such a bright object. It was also my very first deep sky object I imaged. This year I wanted to do something more challenging to progress my knowledge and skills so I decided on a mosaic image. I needed to pick a composition that would allow me to achieve good results with the limited amount of clear sky we get here in Ireland. Therefore, I chose to incorporate the Flame, Horse Head, Running Man Nebula and of course the Great Orion Nebula into the composition. The resulting image is a 1x2 mosaic consisting of around 3 to 4 hours of total integration time per image. I also decided to experimented with different sub exposure times to better understand the capabilities of the equipment I'm using. The Horse Head nebula was shot with 10 minute and Orion Nebula was shot with 5 minute sub exposures. In addition, I took about 15 minutes of data with 20 second sub exposures for the Orion Core on the very last night when this target was visible from my location. I've stacked and processed the images in PixInsight. I used an astro modified Nikon D810 with an Optolong L-Enchance filter. The camera and filter were connected to a William Optics Z73 telescope mounted on the Sky Watcher HEQ5 Pro equatorial mount.
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Tom Dinneen
The Triangulum Galaxy
Tom Dinneen
Title:“The Triangulum Galaxy”
Location:Castleknock, Dublin 15
Category:Out of this world
Information:The Triangulum Galaxy (M33) is part of our local group of galaxies. It is a spiral galaxy located 2.7 million light years away in the constellation Triangulum. Imaged over one night in September 2022 from my Bortle 7 backyard in Dublin. This was taken with my 530mm Newtonian and ASI2600MM (dedicated astrophotography camera). It is composed of one and a half hours of luminance, 30 mins each of red, green and blue and 2 hours of Hydrogen Alpha to bring out the clouds of ionised hydrogen gas that are typically associated with star forming regions.
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Ronan James Hunt
The Wall of Fire
Ronan James Hunt
Title:“The Wall of Fire”
Location:Mullingar, Co. Westmeath
Category:Out of this world
Information:The Wall of Cygnus is a fiery and bright part of NGC 7000 - The North America Nebula. A hot front of star forming nebulosity which literally hums with the light of hydrogen, oxygen and sulphur which are being energised and warmed by the new starlight within. As the swathes of gas release that energy, it glows, creating these vast colourful landscapes in the sky above us. The image was shot using narrowband filters and a monochrome camera. These filters isolate the emission lines of light associated with the elements noted above allowing for more detailed information to be gathered. In this false colour image, I used the colour mapping made famous by the Hubble Space Telescope which I then tweaked to suit my vision for this image.
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Leonard Kiersey
The Nocturnal Knight
Leonard Kiersey
Title:“The Nocturnal Knight”
Location:Athy
Category:Out of this world
Information:The constellation of Orion is one of the wonders of the winter night sky. One of its most fascinating objects is the Horsehead Nebula. This Nebula always reminds me of a Black Knight in Chess and I choose to frame this image as if the Black Knight was leaping over NGC-2023 in a celestial chess game. It was taken with my 6" Ritchey–Chrétien telescope and Altair Astro 26C astro camera with a 0.67 reducer mounted on a Celestron AVX mount and guided using an OAG. The focal length is 1077mm. This image consists of 14x10 minute exposures. It was processed in Pixinsight (SpectroPhotometric color calibration, deconvolution, noise reduction, and curves adjustment).
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Laurynas Zubrickas
Stellar Nursery
Laurynas Zubrickas
Title:“Stellar Nursery”
Location:Arklow, Co. Wicklow
Category:Out of this world
Information:The Rosette Nebula is a popular target in the night sky as it is quite large and is very beginner friendly. It is reasonably bright to a point where it can be seen visually through a telescope. This nebula is a birthplace to young, bright and hot stars which in turn light up the gasses around them. This was my first project that I spent multiple nights imaging to try and build on my total integration time. It was a little unsettling at first not knowing if I had made any set-up mistakes or if my equipment was performing adequately until the end of the 3rd night of imaging. I was delighted to see this end result which has around 10 hours of integration time from my Bortle 5 garden. I've stacked and processed the images in PixInsight using a method I haven't tried before to achieve a look that would be typically produced by a monochromatic camera. I used an astro modified Nikon D810 with an Optolong L-Enchance filter and emulated a SHO palette in post processing. The camera and filter were connected to a William Optics Z73 telescope mounted on the Sky Watcher HEQ5 Pro equatorial mount.
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David Mackie
Galaxies Through The Dust
David Mackie
Title:“Galaxies Through The Dust”
Location:East County galway
Category:Out of this world
Information:M81 and M81 are two of the brightest Galaxies in our Irish sky. But in this image they are viewed through vast clouds of dust and gas known as Integrated Flux Nebula (IFN). IFN is a relatively newly discovered phenomenon and is located on the “outskirts”, away from the main body, of our galaxy. Consequently, the IFN is not illuminated by local stars as is the case with most other nebulae we observe and image. IFN is, in fact, illuminated by the combined, integrated, glow of the entire Milky Way Galaxy. So this image shows two distant Galaxies, each around 12 million light years from us. Then, in the middle ground, we see the faint but beautiful dust clouds of the IFN while the foreground is bejewelled with innumerable stars of many different colours. This image was captured from a back garden in East County Galway on 24 February 2023. It is made up of 120 x 180s exposures for a total exposure (integration) time of 6 hours. Equipment used: Sharpstar 61EDPHii scope (61mm Diameter 275mm Focal length), ASI2600MC Camera, Skywatcher NEQ6 pro mount, Altair L-pro filter. Full stacking and post processing was carried out in Pixinsight.
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Gary Campbell
IC1396 ( Elephants Trunk Nebula)
Gary Campbell
Title:“IC1396 ( Elephants Trunk Nebula)”
Location:Ballymoney Town (Backyard)
Category:Out of this world
Information:I was inspired by the YouTube Astro-photographer Chuck Ayoub. He achieved an APOD for his image of the Elephants Trunk a few years back in 2019. When I first saw the image he was able to create from his backyard I was stunned by how much detail he was able to capture. More impressive I thought were the colours. Also inspired by Marty McCormack's wider field image he took last year. IC 1396 also known as the Elephants Trunk Nebula got its nickname because the dark structure resembles an Elephants trunk. This region is a place of star formation. This image is essentially a giant could of gas in space illuminated by a near by star. The main gas being hydrogen. Technical description: Telescope: Skywatcher 150 Quattro with Aplanatic corrector/reducer (517mm focal length) Mount: Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro Camera: ZWO ASI 294 MC Pro Filters: Antlia ALP-T Dual Band 5nm Guding: Generic 50mm scope with Opticstar camera Image processing: Frames: 70x 300" (gain 121, offset 30) Stacked images in Deep Sky Stacker and processed image in Pixinsight Image was slightly cropped (to remove artefacts) and then I ran dynamic background extraction. From here I run the EZ Noise removal tool. The next step was to Stretch the image. I removed the stars using Starnet2 and created a star mask at this point. I used curves to arrive at the desired colours. I at this point then set out to create this image in the Hubble palette. I split the RGB cannels and discarded the noisy blue. I called green OIII and red H. I then created a synthetic sulphur channel (using pixel math) and called it S. I used H as luminance and ran deconvolution. Recombined to create the image, further curves and masks using before recombining the stars. Overall, I am very pleased how this has turned out for such a short integration.
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Colm O’Dwyer
Star Boy
Colm O’Dwyer
Title:“Star Boy”
Location:Ballincollig, Cork
Category:Out of this world
Information:The is an image of Barnard 150, a meandering dark dust nebula approximately 1200 light years away, located in the constellation Cepheus. This dusty feature appears to float over a beautiful starfield, filled with stars closer to us and those far behind the nebula. We see massive blue giant stars, a plethora of yellow suns, some red giants, dark red carbon stars and a host of brilliant white stars. This one is often called the Seahorse Nebula, something you might see if you rotate the image counter-clockwise by 90 degrees. I never saw it like that. The dust features remind me of myself as a young boy with a scarf that was way too big, getting blown away on the beach when he went walking because that's what you do when Granny's house is 100m from the beach and it took 3.5 hours driving with four kids in a Ford Escort to get there! The image was captured over four short late summer nights between August 10th and 13th, 2022. There was little or no astronomical darkness so exposure was kept short. The task was more difficult as the average moon phase was between 88 – 97%, difficult usually for a broadband image. I used my 12 year old 90 mm apochromatic triplet refractor, reduced by 0.8x to a focal length of 480 mm at f/5.3. The camera was a ZWO ASI2600 MC Pro (APS-c), one shot colour sensor, and I used a gain setting of 0 (highest dynamic range) and exposure of 120 seconds in length. The pixel image scale was 1.6 arc sec per pixel. The final image comprises 480 x 120 s exposure, giving a total integration time of 16 hours, from a Bortle 6/7 zone in the suburbs. Guiding was by an off-axis guider, using a ZWO ASI290MM mini camera and off axis prism, all on an iOptron GEM45 equatorial mount. Image acquisition was controlled by N.I.N.A software, running automatically through the short nights. Plate solving the position was done using the ASTAP program. Stacking, photometric colour calibration of the stars, and rejection algorithms to remove satellite trails etc. were carried out using Astropixel Processor and final tweaks to colour saturation and noise reduction were done in Photoshop CS5, using Russel Croman’s XT tools. The broadband image was processed as a whole. I prefer never to process stars and background separately.
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Shane Lavelle
Wild Atlantic Milky Way
Shane Lavelle
Title:“Wild Atlantic Milky Way”
Location:Achill, Co. Mayo, Ireland
Category:Back on earth
Information:This is a photo of our Milky Way Galaxy rising over the Wild Atlantic Way on Achill Island, Co. Mayo, taken in April 2023. The clear skies of Mayo's coast and Achill Island provide excellent conditions for viewing and photographing the Milky Way. I was drawn to this location initially by the unique patterns in the water made by the waves flowing through the rocks. The photo is taken with a Canon 6D and Samyang 20mm F1.8 lens. The photo consists of 10 exposures for the night sky using 20s exposure, F1.8 and ISO 3200. The foreground consists of 4 images for the rocks and water at F8 and varying shutter speeds. The night sky images are stacked and blended with the foreground in Photoshop and Lightroom.
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Cian Ryan
The Swan and the Three Sisters
Cian Ryan
Title:“The Swan and the Three Sisters”
Location:Ballyferriter
Category:Back on earth
Information:I always wanted to capture the Cygnus Region over the Three Sisters and Ballyferriter on the Dingle Peninsula. I wanted to take the classic view from Clogher back across the town with a nice foreground interest. I found some rocks that provided a nice leading line into Cygnus. There was a 33% moon that night, due to set at 1:30am so I made use of the moonlight to give the foreground some nice contrast. I shot the foreground from 11:30pm to 12am and returned to get the sky from 2am to 2:30am. I watched as some of the fishermen collected pots and trawled further out, their light can be seen in the left side of the frame. Technical Stacked, focus stacked, tracked and blended. Edited in photoshop and Lightroom The foreground is focus stacked and stacked to reduce noise with 3 x 6 x 30 second exposures at f/4 iso 2500. Focus is on the immediate rocks, midground and background. The sky is tracked and stacked with 10 shots at 180 seconds f3.2 ISO 640.
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Patryk Sadowski
Crescent Moon over Donegal
Patryk Sadowski
Title:“Crescent Moon over Donegal”
Location:Inishowen
Category:Out of this world
Information:I love photographing our natural satellite. We've had very clear skies for a few days so I took advantage of that the last few nights. Equipment: Camera: Sony A7rIV Lens: 200-600mm @600mm f/13 Extender: 2x Tracker: Star Adventurer 30 frames, 1/50s Processed with Registax
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Cian Ryan
Overhang
Cian Ryan
Title:“Overhang”
Location:Roscarberry
Category:Back on earth
Information:I found Downeen Castle when researching locations for Milky Way compositions in West Cork. Only half of the castle remains as the cliff has fallen away over time. After a 20 minute hike along the cliffs, I set up to get my foreground at astronomical twilight with a bit of help from the moon, I found a nice location where the castle stood out against the water. After the foreground was shot, the Milky Way would be visible almost immediately after total darkness (the nice part of the season!). I had a window from 10:30pm to 1am when the core was visible. In typical Irish astrophotography sessions, thick cloud rolled in just as the core became visible. Checking satellites for live updates, I spotted a gap coming through. Just before the core set, the gap appeared and I managed to get my sky photos, not as many as I wanted but enough to get some clean photos. Technical: Tracked and blended single images edited in photoshop and Lightroom. Foreground: Single exposure 50mm f/7.1 iso800 60 seconds Sky: Tracked single exposure 50mm f/2 iso1000 180 seconds
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David Patton
Not a Breath
David Patton
Title:“Not a Breath”
Location:Near Lough Gal , Tulsk, Co.Roscommon
Category:Back on earth
Information:One of those rare and precious occasions where you have unexpected clear skies and not a breath of wind! I travelled to one of my local lakes in the hope of catching the stars reflected in the water. after walking through the puddles and across the field to the shore of the lake, there wasn't a single breath of wind, the skies were unusually bright and the lake surface was scattered with stars and crystal clear reflections of the reeds . Just one of those moments that takes your breath away! - standing icy cold and alone with your thoughts in the middle of nowhere , tiny under the stars, but with your feet firmly on the ground I took a lot of shots that night - panoramas and stacks, Pine trees reflected perfectly in the water, even captured the full arch of the Milky Way, but looking back over the pics this simple little single shot stood out for capturing the simple, calm beauty of standing alone under the stars Sony A7III, 14mm f1.8 13 sec ISO 640 processed with DXO photolab for noise reduction, contrast, saturation etc
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Kacper Groblicki
Timeless Wonder
Kacper Groblicki
Title:“Timeless Wonder”
Location:Poulnabrone, co. Clare
Category:Back on earth
Information:For thousands of years, the Poulnabrone Dolmen has stood as a testament to the creativity and ingenuity of our ancient ancestors, beckoning visitors to ponder its mysteries and marvel at its beauty. Above it, the Milky Way has shone for millions of years, a cosmic dance of stars and gas and dust that has captivated humans since the dawn of time. Together, they remind us of the beauty and mystery that exist both in the natural world and within ourselves, and of the enduring power of human curiosity in the face of the vastness of time and space Taken with astro modified Canon 650D with Canon 50mm F/1.8 lens mounted on Star Adventurer star tracker Sky is a stack of 33 one minute exposures with ISO800 and F/3.2 Ground was a single 120s exposure with same ISO and aperture, lit by 21% waxing moon
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Enda O’Loughlin
Poulnabrone Arching Milkyway
Enda O’Loughlin
Title:“Poulnabrone Arching Milkyway”
Location:Poulnabrone, Kilfenora, Co, Clare
Category:Back on earth
Information:Poulnabrone at all times is a magical, supernatural and atmospheric place, as a kid growing up near by in the local town of Ennistymon, The Burren Landscape which is carved out by an ice-age has often been describe to me by people long gone from this world as a vast landscape, almost like the surface of the moon with its many crevass and flat rocky plaines, I have photographed the Dolmen many times for sunrises, sunsets, moon rises, and now an arching Milky Way as the Galactic Center visibility starts at 02:29, this images is a compilation of 7 images in total, 6 images on portrait mode stitched together to form the arching Milky Way and an additional single image exposed and focussed for the portal dolmen with some on site light painting 1-2 seconds. The image to me is a Portal to another world, Image details: 7 images stitched. Nikon Z7II, with Nikon 14-24mm F/2.8. 15 sec at f/2.8, ISO 1600 at 18mm
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Joe Silke
Leaning into Polaris
Joe Silke
Title:“Leaning into Polaris”
Location:Kilmacduagh
Category:Back on earth
Information:The Leaning Tower of Kilmacduagh in County Galway stands proud and tall, yet with a curious tilt that defies gravity and captivates the eye. Its ancient stones, weathered by time and the elements, tell a story of centuries gone by. Its position under the stars evokes a sense of wonder and awe, and one can't help but imagine the stories and legends that have been woven around it over time. The Leaning Tower of Kilmacduagh is more than just a structure, it's a symbol of resilience, perseverance, and the human desire to reach for the stars. Sky: 210 Images taken with Canon Eos RP - x 20 Sec exposures Canon RF16mm f2.8 , edited in Lightroom and stacked in StarStax . Foreground 3 images x 8 sec exposures at f2.8 light painted and blended in Photoshop
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Tom O’Hanlon
Night Train
Tom O’Hanlon
Title:“Night Train”
Location:Lough Boora Co. Offaly
Category:Back on earth
Information:The Milky Way Core rises over the Skytrain art installation at Lough Boora Discovery Park, Co. Offaly. Shot with an astro modified camera it really helps to bring out detail in the Milky Way helping the Hydrogen Alpha signal line shine through. Boora is very close to my house, approximately 30 minutes, when compared to the south coast. So every chance I go to shoot Astro there. This was shot on a Canon 7d Mkii astro modified. The Sky and Train were shot on same night but are exposure blended as the sky is tracked using a Star Adventured 2i. Panorama of Train is made up of 5 images, shot at 16mm but on 7D is more like 25mm as it's a crop sensor camera. This had a 33% overlap and the iso was 2500, at f/5.6 for 60 seconds each. As there was a setting crescent moon it helped illuminate the foreground also. When it fully set I proceeded to focus on the Milky Way Core rising. This was also shot at 25mm equivalent, and is made up of 15x1 minute exposures, ISO 1600 at f/5.6. Processed in Lightroom, Then Pixinsight where I carried out a denoise function, Dynamic background extraction, colour calibration and separated stars from background, to be merged back after some curves transformations. These were then blended in Photoshop, with Stars returned only as blending mode Linear Dodge, meaning more of the Milky Way Shines through.
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Patryk Sadowski
Poisoned Glen Bridge & Milky Way
Patryk Sadowski
Title:“Poisoned Glen Bridge & Milky Way”
Location:Dunlewey-Donegal
Category:Back on earth
Information:Donegal has some fantastic dark spots to photograph the Milky Way. One of them is Dunlewy. The bridge is in total darkness, so I use the light painting technique to bring out more detail from this recently refurbished structure. Equipment: Camera: Sony A7rIV Lens: 16-35mm @ 16mm Sky: 15 frames 25s each at f/2.8 ISO3200 Processed in Sequator and edited in Photoshop Foreground: 20 frames 25s each at f/5.6 ISO1600 Lightpainted using LED panel and combined in PS
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Karol Ryan
The Sturgeon Moon, Ballycotton Lighthouse.
Karol Ryan
Title:“The Sturgeon Moon, Ballycotton Lighthouse.”
Location:Ballynamona Strand, County Cork
Category:Back on earth
Information:On my second attempt, I successfully captured this image of the full moon rising behind Ballycotton Lighthouse. I had previously been disappointed by the cloudy sky on my first try in July, but this time the weather conditions were perfect. It was a fun experience timing the shutter to capture the light from the lighthouse. The image portrays a beautiful moment in time where the lunar cycle and architecture come together in perfect harmony.
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Sean O’ Riordan
Aurora Pano over the Fishing Hut
Sean O’ Riordan
Title:“Aurora Pano over the Fishing Hut”
Location:Connemara, Co Galway
Category:Back on earth
Information:I have photographed this fishing hut many times. I knew it lined up nicely with the milky way but the only image I wanted was the sky arching over it on a clear spring night. It just so happened that this was around the time of some aurora activity in late february so I was delighted to see the purple glow on the horizon as I shot the frames for the pano. I always feel like it can be hard to tell a story with landscape photography but when photographing Connemara under the night skies, it feels like you are in another universe due to the rugged and isolated nature of the landscape. Capturing the milky way over these isolated fishing huts helps tell a unique story of a landscape that has remained untouched over the years which nowadays is becoming a rarity. Tech details: I shot this on a Nikon Z6 camera with 24mm 1.8S prime lens. It is a 9 section pano for the sky with each section of the pano consisting of 3 images shot at ISO 6400, f1.8 for 15 seconds. These were stacked in sequator to reduce noise. My foreground was shot at 14mm and is 3 exposures shot at ISO 3200, 120 seconds, f4 and stacked as well to reduce noise.
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