Winning sky photos

THE DAVID MALIN AWARDS 2010

Winning sky photos is the exhibition of the top entries from the David Malin Awards astrophotography
competition held annually by the Central West Astronomical Society and open to photographers around
Australia. The photographs are judged by world renowned astrophotographer Dr David Malin.

The competition aims to encourage photographers to use their vision, imagination and skill to produce
inspiring and beautiful images of the sky. There are six entry categories: deep sky; wide-field; solar
system: hi-res (<30'); solar system: wide-field (>30'); animated sequences; and junior (16 years and under).
This year’s open theme is ‘The moonlit landscape’.

GROUND FLOOR North Dome Landing

Room 1
4. The moonlit old-timer
by Andrew King
This proud old Boab, reaching for
the stars, has seen many full moons
in its time. The constellations of
Orion the Hunter, with his three
belt-stars vertical, and Canis Major,
the hunter’s dog, lie to the left and upper-left
respectively.
Room 3
2. Jupiter, Ganymede and Europa
by Paul Haese
Jupiter, the largest planet, plays
host to four large moons. Regular
transits of the moons and their
shadows across Jupiter’s face add to the joy of
observing the planet. Here we see Ganymede
(middle) and Europa and its shadow (bottom).
FIRST FLOOR
South Dome Landing
1. Moonlit Twelve Apostles
by Phil Hart
Only twelve men have stood
on the Moon, which here
illuminates a familiar scene.
Despite the adaptability of the human eye, a
moonlit landscape is too faint to activate our
colour vision and we see only shades of grey.
5. The Moon over Uluru (series)
by Peter Ward
A 360-degree panorama of the
central desert becomes a world of
its own in this polar, or circular,
transformation. The Moon illuminates the scene
from the constellation of Scorpius.
6. Impacts with Jupiter (series)
by Anthony Wesley
‘[This] shows what can be done by
a keen amateur with care and
diligence’ – David Malin. The black
spot at the bottom, as large as
the Pacific Ocean, is the result of
an asteroid impact. Wesley’s discovery was hailed
by professional astronomers around the world.
7. Sunspot with contrail
by Rolando De Michiel
Sunspots are magnetic ‘storms’
on the face of the Sun whose
numbers rise and fall in an
11-year cycle. The curious shape of this spot,
however, is unlike any seen before.
8. A scrum in space — a
celestial football, when
galaxies blend
by Tim Carruthers
Centaurus A is the result of
two galaxies merging. A giant dust-free elliptical
galaxy (the ‘football’) is ringed by the dusty
remains of a spiral galaxy. A supermassive black
hole lies at the centre.
FIRST FLOOR
(VIA RECEPTION STAIRCASE)
Room 9
9. The Moon over
Uluru (series)
by Peter Ward
A 360-degree panorama
of the central desert. The Moon, located within the
constellation of Scorpius, illuminates the scene.
10. Murray River moonrise
by Wayne England
‘This is absolutely beautiful, both in
terms of the composition and colour,
helped along by attractive clouds.
It even has the Southern Cross and
Pointers nicely centred’ – David Malin.
11. Camping by moonlight
by Wayne England
Away from the firelight, stars can be
seen parading across the heavens.
The Milky Way, mimicked by the
flowing river below, has provided a
tapestry upon which our ancestors
wove myths and legends.
12. Long jetty under moonlight
by Mike Salway
The V-shaped Hyades star
cluster hangs above the small
Pleiades cluster. The image of
the jetty suggests how our unaided eye can take
us only so far into the ocean of our vast universe.
13. Early morning conjunction at
Swansea
by Brad Le Brocque
A conjunction occurs when two
celestial bodies align closely along
a north-south line in the sky. Here,
the pre-dawn sky has washed out
the stars like an incoming tide. Only the crescent
Moon and two or three bright planets remain
visible.
14. Sagittarius galore
by Gary Hill
The rich starfields in the
constellation of Sagittarius.
Among the many objects
visible in this image are the red Swan nebula
(lower left), Lagoon nebula (right) and scattered
blue light from the Triffid nebula. The patch of
bright stars to the lower left is seen through a
window in dark obscuring dust.
15. New Moon occults the Pleiades
by Vincent Miu
‘This is a very well executed
photograph of an event that’s quite
difficult to photograph, mainly
because the Moon is bright and the
stars are faint’ – David Malin. Our
Moon, illuminated here mostly by reflected
Earth-light, passes in front of the Pleiades cluster
of young stars.
Room 11
3. Sideways Saturn
by Stefan Buda
At least twice in Saturn’s 29.5 year
orbit its rings will appear edge-on
to the Earth. Wafer thin —
perhaps only a few metres thick
— they disappear from our view,
providing an excellent opportunity to search for
new moons.
16. Eta Carina (Narrow Band)
by Luke Dodd
The Eta Carina nebula is an
emission (or star birth)
nebula. Composed mostly of
hydrogen, other elements are present including
oxygen and sulfur. Narrow band filters isolate
light from each element to show the distribution
of that element.
17. Witch’s Head Nebula
— IC2118
by Max Kilmister
This cloud of fine dust
scatters blue light from the
star Rigel (out of frame above the cloud). It is
1000 light-years away. If you tilt your head to the
left it may resemble a witch’s face looking upwards.
 18. Near and far — the Room 12
Corona Australis Nebula and
19. Celestial fireworks
NGC 6723
by Jason Jennings
by Marcus Davies
‘This is a difficult object, especially
The Corona Australis nebula
placed as it is in a rich part of the
lies about 500 light-years away. It contains stars
Milky Way’ – David Malin. Dust
still in the process of forming. By contrast the
scatters blue light from the star
globular cluster NGC 6723 is 28 000 light-years
Rho Ophiuchi (left), gas emits red
distant and contains stars over 10 billion years old.
light around Sigma Scorpii (top) and Antares (right)
20. The green visitor lights up the yellow clouds. In the distance sits
by Richard Higby the globular cluster M4 (upper right).
As comets approach the Sun 22. Comet Lulin passing Saturn
they vaporise and give off and Regulus
various gasses, including by Robert Kaufman
cyanogen, which gives the green tint to this comet Comets are thought to be the icy
Lulin. The gas is blown away by the solar wind to leftovers from the formation of
form the distinctive tail. the solar system. Only occasionally are they visible
to the naked eye as they pass through the sky.
21. NGC 1097
by Greg Bradley 23. Rho Ophiuchi, Antares
This galaxy is cannibalising its and the Blue Horsehead
companions, 45 million light- by Phil Hart
years away. The ‘legs’ are the This image captures gas
remains of its last meal. Next on the menu is the (emitting red light), dust (scattering blue light)
oval-shaped dwarf galaxy between the spiral arms. and thick, dark dust obscuring background stars.
At its bright core lies a supermassive black hole. The horse head rearing up on the left has a
quadruple star, Nu Ophiuchi, for an eye.
Animated Sequences
Twelve Apostles timelapse, Narrandera timelapse, 24. Impacts with Jupiter
March Star Party, Moonset over Snowy Mountains (series)
by Phil Hart by Anthony Wesley
The right-hand image
Moonset by Alex Cherney records the moment of
impact of a comet or asteroid as it hits Jupiter’s
upper atmosphere. This series of images has
caused professional astronomers to reappraise
their ideas on the frequency of these impacts.

Competition winners
Celestial fireworks by Jason Jennings — Winner — Deep Sky category & Overall Winner
Rho Ophiuchi, Antares and the Blue Horsehead by Phil Hart — Winner — Wide-field category
Impacts with Jupiter (series) by Anthony Wesley — Winner — Solar System: Hi-res category
New Moon occults the Pleiades by Vincent Miu — Winner — Solar System: Wide-field category
Murray River moonrise by Wayne England — Winner — Open Theme category
Twelve Apostles timelapse by Phil Hart — Winner — Animated Sequences category
The Moon over Uluru (series) by Peter Ward — Winner — The Innovation Prize
All other images on display received Honourable Mentions

The support of Canon Australia and the CSIRO’s Australia Telescope National Facility is acknowledged.
The tour of the exhibition is organised by Sydney Observatory. Sydney Observatory is part of the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney.
PHOTOGRAPHY AND ASTRONOMY AT SYDNEY OBSERVATORY
Photography and astronomy have a long association at Sydney Observatory. Henry Chamberlain Russell,
former government astronomer and director of the Observatory, began photographing the sky in the
early 1870s. You can see the photographic plates he used to photograph the transit of Venus in 1874
(room 6) and his images of the night sky in the ground level entry hall. Sydney Observatory also
participated in the Astrographic chart (Carte du Ciel) and catalogue, a project launched in Paris in 1887
aiming to photograph every section of the sky seen from Earth. The Observatory had the largest segment
of the sky to complete among the 20 observatories participating. By 1890 astronomers from Sydney
Observatory and its outpost observatory at Red Hill (now Pennant Hills) had begun taking images that
eventually numbered more than 20,000 plates, revealing details that previously had not been evident
through a telescope or with the naked eye. Today the tradition of astrophotography continues through
the work of our own astronomers and the annual David Malin awards exhibition.

TOILETS
(outside)

5 EMERGENCY WHEELCHAIR/GROUP
EXIT ENTRY
Lecture
room

GROUND FLOOR

EMERGENCY
EXIT
ENTRY/EXIT

3
Planetarium
1 (occasional sessions)

EMERGENCY
EXIT

North
Dome
Balcony
10
Animations
11

FIRST FLOOR
6 Russell
room
9

12

South
Dome 7 8

Sydney Observatory, part of the Powerhouse Museum, is a NSW government cultural institution. © 2010 Trustees of the Powerhouse Museum