Southern Hemisphere Public Vote
It’s the time of year again when the great global public get to decide who takes home the nPAE Gift pack and the bragging rights of winning the popular vote, in the 2022 nPAE Southern Hemisphere Astrophotography Competition!
We have whittled all the entries down to the final 11! Who will take home the popular vote?!
1 Hugo: A dolphin swims in the cosmic ocean Sharpless 308
Hugo from Argentina, the previous Southern Hemisphere stage and our current World Champion, is back with an amazing Dolphin Nebula shot. Taken on an equipment stack of a Meade 130 APO series 6000 telescope; iOptron CEM 70 mount; ZWO ASI 294 MM Pro camera and a William Optics 60 with ZWO ASI 120 mm camera as a guide scope with OIII and Ha de 3nm Astrodon filters and processed in Pixinsight.
2 Ben: Rho Ophiuchi Cloud Complex
Benjamin kicks off Australia’s entries to this year’s Southern Hemisphere competition with this beautiful Rho Ophiuchi Cloud Complex image. This wide field 6 panel mosaic was taken with a ZWO 2600MC camera and SAMYANG 135MM lens on a Heq-5 mount with an ASIAIR PRO and ZWO Electronic Automatic Focuser and processed in Pixinsight.
3 Dave: Small Magellanic Cloud in Dual Band
Dave from Sydney enters a stunning Small Magellanic Cloud in Dual Band. Taken with a Skywatcher Esprit 120mm Triplet Refractor using a PrimaLuceLab ESATTO 3” Robotic Focuser; Riccardi x0.75 Reducer; ZWO 2” Electronic Filter Wheel and a ZWO ASI6200MC Pro all on a CGX mount guided via PrimaLuceLab 60x240mm Guidescope with ASI 290MM Mini & PHD2 all controlled via an Eagle 3 Pro controller! Also processed in PixInsight.
4 Niall: The Glory of Saturn
Niall’s incredible Glory of Saturn is the 3rd entry from Australia. Using a big C14 Edge HD refector on a Paramount MX+ mount and ZWO ASI 174MM camera with Chroma RGB filters and a Tele Vue 3x Barlow, it was processed with ‘ Lucky Imaging! ‘
5 Rodney: NGC2004 et al. 600ppi
The last entry from Australia is Rodney’s magnificent NGC2004 and other nebulas in found in the constellation Dorado. Taken with a Takahashi TSA120 and QSI683 CCD camera. The calibration, integration and post processing was completed in Pixinsight v1.8.9
6 Breno: NGC1291
Breno from Brazil has an excellent NGC1291 for his “Snow Collar in Space” entry. Taken with an ESPRIT 120mm f/7 telescope and ZWO ASI 2600MC on a CEM60 Mount it was stacked and processed using PixInsight with cosmetic work using Photoshop.
7 Emilio: TARANTULA Y ARRECIFE com ESTRELLAS
Emilio from Chile has a sensational Tarantula nebula taken with his AskarFRA400 refractor a ZWO asi2600mm camera and Ha, Oiii; Sii astronomik filters. Stacked and processed in pixinsight.
8 Valter: M8 Lagoon Nebula
Valter from Chile enters a fantastic Lagoon nebula using his Explore Scientific ED80 FCD100 telescope; Ioptron Cem40 Mount with a ZWO ASI 1600 mm pro camera and Astronomik SHO filters. Processed in Pixinsight + Photoshop.
9 Alejandro: Eta carinae hyperstar
Colombia is in an ideal location for both stages of the nPAE astrophotography competition and Alejandro has excelled himself again with this superlative capture of the Carinae Nebula taken with a Celestron CPC Edge HD 9.25 + Hyperstar at f2.2, then processed in Pixinsight.
10 Soumyadeep: Centaurus A
Taking advantage of the southern aspect from India, Soumyadeep enters this glittering Centarus A shot taken on a Planewave CDK 24 and Finger Lake Instruments ProLine 9000 camera, Mathis MI-1000/1250 mount and Astrodon LRGB Filters, wow! Also stacked and post-processed in Pixinsight. Soumyadeep easily wins the most expensive equipment stack!!
11 Luis: IC2944
Luis from Peru enter a sparkling Running Chicken Nebula IC2944. This was taken with two telescopes. A Bresser 8-inch f/3.9 Astrograph and a Celestron RASA 8. Mounted on a Skywatcher EQ6R-Pro with ZWO ASIAIR plus and ZWO 071MC / ZWOASi120mm (guiding) cameras using an IDAS NBZ UHS dual band filter. Processed with Pixinsight, Astroflat & Adobe Lightroom mobile.
Make your selection and click the vote button on the panel below.
It’s make your mind up time!
Tell us in the comments why you chose your favourite!
The Public Vote Winner will be announced on the 27th September and the Southern Hemisphere Stage Winner and runners up 30th September 2022.
Please note: For the avoidance of doubt, all planets, the sun and moon can be entered into either hemisphere stage. Due to the geographic and celestial equator overlap it is possible to enter images taken in the North into the Southern competition and vice versa. Remote imaging – where the equipment and the user are in different locations – is allowed for the following 3 reasons. 1. The imbalance of population between the North and Southern Hemispheres. 2. That remote imaging is gaining in popularity and we want to include all persons. 3. A large part of the art of astrophotography is in the post processing not necessarily in the equipment. The Northern Hemisphere is that which lies to the North of the celestial equator and the Southern Hemisphere is that which lies to the South of the celestial equator.
Since when any part of India is part of the Southern Hemisphere?
Hi Michael, The geographic and celestial hemispheres don’t overlap so anywhere towards the equator will see objects in the southern hemisphere.
Painstaking and a great shot !
Fantastic clarity . Also he has taken the picture used his own equipment.