A Major Award

Yes, in the immortal words of Darren McGavin from A Christmas Story... I have received "A Major Award". No, its not a "leg lamp". A couple of my astrophotos won the monthly competitions over at Cloudy Nights, a large astronomy forum http://www.cloudynights.com/index.php

Every month there are several competitions in astrophotography (DSLR, CCD, Beginner, Sketching). I entered 2 images...


In the "object of the month" challenge, my NGC 1333 won
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsDKXxT6gc5ePKKFFGUlrJeryHpBTiW62j7Uplba5faKG7ZupbCmHMiMxC6yG3xDMAyy7cNu3z5x7o14xGH9xzoUU4aZRN8_PlGNKyTpdtKDLWjfCJIoJVjeABSRVMV7SFK3a3mWVBzuQR/s1600-h/NGC+1333+master_crop_med.jpg


And in the Group Challenge (a sort of "best of" from all the categories), my M42 won
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjPu-zCL6TYDWAFX_XUPu6AJtjbM4HeLHAnJCaz4z3hVR3vL8R0zbpqHV16GwLd9puyhm8IRSeDQOM7qA0Dq4cr3JMv8D1efMf0JGGFbPOcoWfDEq0S4ZrtlNwKeFvP5dzCIFnJzIs0ByA/s1600-h/M42_master_crop_med.jpg

Cloudy Nights is a great forum and resource for the aspiring astronomer and/or astrophotographer. The competitions are friendly and fun, with bragging rights and a t-shirt the ultimate reward. Plus, the winner gets to pick the next "object of the month". It is a great way to challenge yourself and work on your skills, as well as see other folk's take on a similar object.

My M42 photo will appear on the Cloudy Nights homepage next month : )