Bit of very cool news :-)

[strongmanmike]

This was under wraps until recently and I hope you will forgive my trumpet.... :whistle:

My Orions Sword image, that was finalist in the Eureka Prize last year, has been selected to be enlarged to 1.6m X 1.6m and hung high on the drum wall, on permanent display at the National Science and Technology Centre (Questacon) in Canberra. It will be featuring as part of a huge 5 panel display of scientific images, mine is the only astroimage - pretty cool huh? :cool: :thumbsup:

Needless to say I am over the moon and greatly honoured, not sure I can think of a more fitting place to have any of my work on display?

So if you are in Canberra later this year and happen to be at Questacon, have a gander - hard to miss as they will hang in full view of the entire foyer....to 1/2 Million visitors a year! :)

In the meantime here is a peek at what it will look like:

http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/questacon

Thanks for listening to my little trumpet :D

Mike

[astroron]

Yahoooooo Mike Well done:)
Way to go:thumbsup:
cheers

[AdrianF]

We forgive the trumpet. Great news congrats

Adrian

[scagman]

Congratulations Mike,

Thats awesome, you did well keeping under wraps I think I would have been so excited I would have been blowing my trumpet as soon as I heard and a lot louder too.

John

[Paul Haese]

Well done Mike. Great honor for any amateur.

[AstralTraveller]

:cool::cool::clap::clap::party::par ty::party::party::clap::clap::cool: :cool:

:party2::party2:


Way to go!!

[wavelandscott]

Congratulations!

Well done...

[TrevorW]

Gee guys he's got a big enough head as is :P

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[renormalised]

Blow as hard as you like, Mike, that's a great honour!!!:):)

Congratulations!!!:):)

[GTB_an_Owl]

well done Mike

geoff

[Quark]

Bloody excellent Mike, great to see an amateur receive such recognition and what a corker of an image to showcase in such a public setting.

Top Stuff
Regards
Trevor

[Louwai]

Well done Mike. Congrats. :thumbsup:


Stupid flamin internet filters here at work won't let me open the image... :sadeyes:

[bartman]

Hooley Dooley!!!!!
What an Honour!!!!
Well deserved Mike!!!
Bartman

[astronut]

Brilliant image Mike!! An honour well deserved!!!:):)

[erick]

TA-DAAAAH!! :thumbsup:

[Ric]

Top stuff Mike

Definitely a feather in your astrophotography cap.

[Waxing_Gibbous]

That's excellent.
Very well done indeed.

[gary]

Hi Mike,

When we went and saw the Masterpieces from Paris Exhibition (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showpost.php?p=576996&postcount=4) in April last year at the
National Gallery, we dropped in at Questacon and noted the astrophotographs that hung
on the wall as your walked up the spiral staircase. We took time to look at each one
and the photographer's names read as a Who's Who of among the best and brightest
of the Australian amateur astrophotography scene.

Great to hear one of your images has been singled out for special treatment with the
giant enlargement to become part of the permanent collection!

Congratulations and well done! :thumbsup:

Best regards

Gary

[SkyViking]

That's awesome news Mike, congratulations on such an achievement :D It is a very worthy image indeed.

[DavidU]

Fabulous news Mike ! Congratulations.
Dave

[ZeroID]

Wow !! and Congratulations and well done ! :2thumbs: ! Awesome image.

[h0ughy]

WOW SO YOU WILL BE WELL HUNG IN A GALLERY!!!!!!!! man that must be good rope! Congratulations Mr Sidonio, you're history ;)

[jjjnettie]

You must have a grin from ear to ear Mike.
Congratulations!

[alan meehan]

:thumbsup:Well done Mike you deserve it.
AL

[strongmanmike]

Wow, thanks for all the kind words everyone, it's great to be able to share stuff like this with you all, thanks for letting me :thumbsup:...it's pretty exciting!

...can't begin to image how excited Alex must be though :eyepop::eyepop::eyepop::eyepop::ey epop::eyepop::eyepop::eyepop::eyepo p:...he is my idol :love:

Mike

[DavidTrap]

Well done Mike!

DT

[ballaratdragons]

Who is going to see it waayyyy up there? :shrug:


Get a sore neck! :P

:lol: Congrats Mike :thumbsup:
A big honour. Shows that all the hard work pays off :)

[spearo]

Congratulations !
frank

[Satchmo]

Congrats Mike- but please get them to hang it the 'right' way up :D

[strongmanmike]

Thanks guys

He he right way up :lol:...I like it that way actually :P

Ken, the entrance to the main gallery is actually up there, the elevated gangway you see on the left in the pictuire is the way in, so as everyone enters they will be able to look across and see the five images as they walk along the gangway into the galleries, there will be an imformation panel explaining each image bolted to the handrail :thumbsup:

Mike

[space oddity]

Well done Mike, nothing like an ego boost. Kevin Rudd will be getting jealous.

[Lester]

Good on ya Mike, we all know your images are first class, now hope many of the general public will get to know you also.

ps. I bet when you get the 12" trained on this area it will produce even better.

All the best.

[Osirisra]

Awesome work! It is a great pic and well worth being 'blown up' and 'hung'

[RobF]

Congrats +1 Mike. Quite right to be chuffed about that :thumbsup:

[alexch]

Excellent news, Mike. The big Orion image looks great there!
Well deserved recognition!

Cheers,
Alex

[strongmanmike]

Thanks guys, much appreciated :thumbsup:

Mike

[allan gould]

Blow it long and loud.
Excellent news Mike and more than well deserved.

[batema]

Congrats. What an honour.

[ngcles]

Hi Mike,

Congratulations mate and well deserved!


Best,

Les D

[Sylvain]

Congrats Mike!
It's well deserved!

Beware about willing to be hung though!
Next thing you know, you could be shooting the kids and framing the wife ;)

[strongmanmike]

Thanks again guys, hope some of you get to see the final exhibition, should be up and running during July sometime so if you are in Canberra maybe you can fit Questacon in :thumbsup:

A kind of quirky thing that you might not know is that my previous high level passion, that of the extreme sport of strongman, also took me to the foyer of Questacon back in 2000 when I put on a few displays of strength for the opening of the Side Show Alley galleries...amazing pair of occurances really...who would ever have thought that over 10 years later one of my astrophotos would be hanging right over my head in this photo...:)

See: http://www.pbase.com/strongmanmike2002/image/68932000/original

Mike

[AstralTraveller]

OK, now can we see a picture of you lifting the photo into place. :whistle:

[iceman]

Toot Toot!

Well done Mike, fantastic news.

[strongmanmike]

Sorry Dave, I am but a flabby shadow of my 2000 self :lol: :sadeyes:...about all I can lift these days..is hopefully peoples spirits :P



Cheers Mike, can't wait to go and see it in place - I am over the moon :D

Mike

[KenNo2658]

Mike, I hope you don't mind a complete newbie commenting, but I would like to let you know your achievment means to someone like me. I showed your image to my wife, and explained that it was the very same nebula that I had already shown her through my little 8". She was suitably impressed! Especially when I explained that the colours were real, and that it was your increadible ability that made such beauty available to meer mortals like us.

You have also inspired me to continue my own efforts to produce an image acceptable to be posted in the Newbie's section. If some one like you can produce that, surely I can produce an image of Saturn that actually looks like Saturn!

Well, maybe, one day!

Thank You!

Ken

[CometGuy]

Mate I'm very happy for you! It's good to get that sort of return on all the hours and effort put into the hobby :)

Terry

[strongmanmike]

Hi Ken

You are very welcome

It's things like this that mean the most to me, inspiration comes to us all from all sorts of places, when I was younger (in the 80's) David Malin was Hubble then and he inspired me for sure, so if my Orion Nebula image has now inspired you a little that is just fantastic :thumbsup:. I have no doubt you will produce images of fine quality and you are sure to inspire others too :)



Yes nice icing on the cake for this image I guess. There are many Orion Nebula images out there and now there is one in the top Aussie Science Museum to maybe inspire a few more into our great hobby :thumbsup:

Mike