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Hi all....a very interesting thread..and if I may add my 10c.
For me, it is unfortunate that David does not consider equipment used, time spent, effort levied, prevailing conditions (i.e object never above 30 degrees altitude) when judging the competition.
I am certainly in favour of the 'all own work' scenario. It was late 1999 when I started imaging with an LX200 classic and a Starlight Express HX916. From then until around Jun 05, I was completely unproductive....finding my way, learning from a multitude of mistakes, set up errors, mastering polar alignment..you name it, with no local help at all (I lived in Belgium and Portugal for a total of 4.5 years with only the excellent help available from the internet forums and groups). I even remember calling Adam Block at Kitt Peak to discuss my damn LX200...because he was the master of the 16" there at the time. My learning curve continued as I improved my skills, having to do with inadequate equipment, terrible weather conditions, portable set ups and the list goes on...not to mention the absolute dreadful track record I have when purchasing equipment (every single piece of kit I have bought from the US has either been broken, inoperative, incomplete or the incorrect item). I upgraded to Tak equipment (mount and scope), got a better camera (my first SBIG ST8E), and then my final purchase (having sold all the Tak gear) was the PME, RC and STL11K. Meanwhile, I was practicing every single aspect of this great hobby, and kept rather scary levels of detail in terms of setup and configuration procedures (for every single piece of kit I owned), acquisition best practice, processing hints and tips...not to mention the 4 months solid work it took me to master the AOL on this particular set up.
Then I moved to Australia in Oct 04 but did not establish a static observatory until May 05 when I purchased my property in Yass. Thus, everything on my website has been produced in 3 short years but there is not a single night that goes by where I have to go and tweak something, fix something or I am having to throw data away, still competing with less than average environmental conditions.
So to come away as the overall winner gives me exceptional satisfaction, and that indeed it has been all my own work, with huge amounts of effort in the background mixed with tons of disappointment.
Finally, I hope the competition organisers are able to sort it out...it has to be fair at the end of the day.
thanks again to all those who have commented.
cheers
Martin
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