Checking in from Parkes and the Malin's

[iceman (Mike)]

Hi all

Just checking in to say g'day from sunny and cold Parkes after going to the David Malin Awards dinner last night.

I don 't remember all the winners and HM's but i'll try and re-cap what I can:

Overall Winner - Jason Jennings (jase) with his brilliant Rho Ophiucus mosaic
Deep Sky Winner - Jason Jennings (jase) with the same shot
Widefield Winner - I think it was Phil Hart but I can't remember what shot it was (he won so many I lost track!)
Widefield Solar System Winner - Vincent Miu (cookie8) with his Crescent Moon and Pleiades shot
High-res Solar System Winner - Anthony Wesley (bird) with his Jupiter impact series
Innovation Winner - Peter Ward with his Ayers Rock Mars shot
Animation Winner - Phil Hart with his 12 apostles animation

I think that was all of them.

The Deep Space was the most highly contested category, with 81 entries! Trying to whittle that down to 6 honourable mentions and 1 winner was very difficult I'm sure!

It was a very well run competition and awards night, and big thanks to John Sarkissian, the CWAS and David Malin for another excellent event.

The family and I went out to "The Dish" this morning, and met up with a few other IIS'ers and award winners. We were lucky enough to have John give us a personal guided tour through the control rooms inside the Dish. An amazing experience.

Will have some photos to show soon, I'm sure others will add their photos and recounts too.

Cheers

[AdrianF (Adrian)]

Thanks for the news..
And congratulations to all the winners.

Adrian

[Rob_K]

Thanks for the report Mike - looks like it was an HM for me! Really, really sorry I couldn't make it to the awards but it was too tall an order after arriving back from Tahiti late Friday night. Sounds like an excellent night - congratulations to all the winners!

Cheers -

[DavidU (Dave)]

Nice result. A clean sweep by IIS members.

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Well congratulations Jase .

A killer image for sure and well deserved winner. I thought Peters Ares Rock miiiight have just clinched it but with my incomplete knowledge of what got up as finalists, Jase's Rho was my second pick for overall .

Well done to all the other winners too!...bet it was a cracking night!

Hearing Phil Hart's name over and over (again) must have been like that scene in Blazzing Saddles when all the Johnsons kept speaking from the crowd at the town meeting

Mike

[Peter Ward]

Just got back to the big smoke myself. It was good to catch up at Parkes and meet the ever diverse..and talented pool of CWAS winners.

Again well done Jase! ....I was my cheerful prognostication to him prior to the awards he would do very well

And congrats to the rest of the winners and "honorable" mentions. Canon as usual, generously sponsored the event.

[gregbradley]

I was very happy to receive an honourable mention for my NGC1097 galaxy shot in the deep sky category. I also got a highly commended for my Blue Horsehead Nebula image.

Marcus Davis also got an honourable mention for his Corona Australis and
Tim Carruthers got one for his Centaurus A shot.

It was nice to meet a lot of the people I read posts from in person. From Peter Ward and his beautiful charming wife Lynn, to Jase, Mike Salway, Phil Hart, Marcus (finally), Gary Hill, Alex, and the famous Anthony Wesley and his lovely wife.

Greg.

[Paul Haese]

Congrats to all. Looks like I am a serial HM winner. Oh well next time.

Nice to see Jase win the overall prize.

[h0ughy (David)]

congratulations Guys for your hard earned results

[anthony.tony]

Her are some quick pics ... Tony

[Phil Hart]

was great to be there again.. a real buzz. alex cherney and i had fun at the start taking photos at the dish on friday night (and still found a pizza shop open for dinner when we got back before the rest of his family had starved waiting for us).

i really appreciated the talks on saturday as in previous years.. i could listen to john sarkissian tell the unfolding saga of the apollo tapes every year, mike salway and i were gobsmacked looking at anthony wesley's jupiter and saturn images on the big screen during his presentation and the john bolton lecture is also fascinating to hear of the world class science and discoveries coming out of or associated with the Dish (this time about major advances, patents and royalties for WiFi that originated with CSIRO and research at the dish) - for a town of 10,000 people Parkes packs a lot of punch!

i was very happy to get the widefield prize, everything else was a bonus. i was a little surprised (read: embarrased ) to get four awards in the one animation category. hopefully next year a few more people will get the bug and there will be a bunch more entries!

aside from seeing all the amazing images people have been working on, the best bit of the weekend is just meeting new faces and catching up with folks again. between SPSP a few months ago and now Parkes, i have met a lot more IIS folks this year which has been great. adds so much value knowing the characters behind the posts. also very beneficial to speak to others about plans for the solar eclipse in 2012. what seemed very hard with little local knowledge from home suddenly seems a lot easier.

thanks to the organisers and everyone there.. i had a ball.

Phil

P.S. you could be forgiven for thinking that I should know what i'm doing.. but after two evenings out at the dish setting up timelapse gear (thanks to Alex and Brad) and then two early morning trips out to retrieve the gear, i have nothing to show for it.. i botched two perfect nights in a row.. beautiful soft moonlight, crystal clear skies.. 'user issues' both times . if there was a prize for biggest screw ups i'd be a serious contender for that too!

[marc4darkskies (Marcus)]

Congats to you again Jase - well deserved! And good going to all the other award recipents!! Naturally, I'm chuffed with my HM!

It was a fantastic evening with great food and good company - mostly IISers too! Congrats to John Sarkissian and CWAS for a great event! And of course thanks go to Alan Brightman and Canon for their continued strong support!

Here's a happy snap of "The Winner's Table" . L-R: Marcus, Gary, Joanne, Emma, Jason, Mike and Brad.

Cheers, Marcus

[leon]

Well done my friends I do hope that i can attend one of theses functions one day.

Leon

[h0ughy (David)]

from John S:

Hello all,

Last night, during the 2010 CWAS AstroFest dinner, the recipients of this year's "David Malin Awards" were announced. In the next few days, pictures of the event will be posted on the web along with the winning astro-photographs.


OVERALL WINNER: Jason Jennings - "Celestial Fireworks"

The Innovation Award: Peter Ward - "The Moon over Uluru - Series"


Winners by category:

Deep Sky:
--------------

Winner: Jason Jennings - "Celestial Fireworks"
HM: Luke Dodd - "Eta Carina (Narrow Band)"
HM: Max Kilmister - "Witch's head nebula - IC2118"
HM: Marcus Davies - "Near and Far"
HM: Tim Carruthers - "A Scrum in Space - a Celestial Football, when Galaxies
Blend: Centaurus A"
HM: Greg Bradley - "NGC 1097, a Galaxy with Extensions"

Highly Commended: Jason Jennings, Luke Dodd, Steve Crouch, Andrew Catsaitis, Eddie Trimarchi, Eddie Trimarchi



Wide-Field:
---------------

Winner: Phil Hart - "Rho Ophiuchi, Antares and the Blue Horsehead"
HM: Wayne England - "Camping under the Stars"
HM: Mike Salway - "Venus, Crescent Moon and the Pleiades Conjunction"
HM: Rolando De Michiel - " "Sunspot with Contrail"
HM: Gary Hill - "Sagittarius Galore"

Highly Commended: Doug Robertson, Alex Cherney, Bill Christie, Greg Bradley, Fred Vanderhaven



Solar System - Wide-Field:
------------------------------------

Winner: Vincent Miu - "New Moon Occults the Pleiades"
HM: Robert Kaufman - "Comet C/2007 N3 Lulin passing Saturn and Regulus"
HM: Richard Higby - "The Green Visitor"
HM: Phil Hart - "Geminid Meteors"
HM: Brad Le Brocque - "Early Morning Conjunction at Swansea"

Highly Commended: Rolando De Michiel, Andrew Catsaitis, Gary Hill


Solar System - Hires:
----------------------------

Winner: Anthony Wesley - "Impacts with Jupiter - Series"
HM: Paul Haese - "Jupiter, Ganymede and Europa"
HM: Stefan Buda - "Sideways Saturn"

Highly Commended: Paul Haese, Troy Tranter, Anthony Wesley



Theme - "The Moonlit Landscape":
----------------------------------------------

Winner: Wayne England - "Murray River Moonrise"
HM: Wayne England - "Camping by Moonlight"
HM: Phil Hart - "Moonlit Twelve Apostles"
HM: Peter Ward - "Band of Venus"
HM: Mike Salway - "Long Jetty under Moonlight"
HM: Andrew King - "The Moonlit Old-Timer"

Highly Commended: Alex Cherney, Gary Hill, Wayne England, Phil Hart, Brad Le Brocque, Brad Le Brocque


Animated Sequences:
-----------------------------

Winner: Phil Hart - "Twelve Apostles Timelapse"
HM: Phil Hart - "Narrendera Timelapse"
HM: Alex Cherney - "Moonset"
HM: Phil Hart - "March Star Party"
HM: Phil Hart - "Moonset over Snowy Mountains"

Highly Commended: Stefan Buda, Troy Tranter, David Hough, Mike Salway, Greg Priestley, Phil Hart


Regards, John
2010 CWAS AstroFest

___________________________________ ____

John M. Sarkissian
Operations Scientist
ATNF Parkes Radio Observatory
CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science

PO Box 276, Parkes. NSW. 2870. Australia.

Tel No: (02) 6861 1769 (Intl. +61 2 6861 1769) Fax No: (02) 6861-1730 Switch: (02) 6861-1700

http://www.parkes.atnf.csiro.au/people/sar049/

[dugnsuz (Doug)]

Wow, I got a Highly Commended in Widefield!!
That's made my day/night - well done to all.
Doug

[Bassnut (Fred)]

Hehe, thats what I was thinking, I got a highly recomended too, nice unexpected bonus. The really important thing is of course, its the one time I actually beat Mike Sidonio, PLUS BONUS , thats what im talkin about, ego trippin nirvana .

Congrats to the winners, specially The Jase punk, well done .

[cookie8 (Vincent)]

I only expect an HM so you can imaging how happy I was when I was told being a WINNER!!! It must have been a wonderful night. Although I couldn't attend due to health issue, thanks guys for posting those photos so at least I can feel the joyful atmosphere.
Congrats to all the DMA winners.

[beren]

Congratulations Jase well deserved and to the other winners/HM plus all those how entered.

[Adelastro1 (Wayne England)]

Well I just staggered in the door after my 1100km return trip from Parkes today.... sooo tired but it was definitely worth the trip! I still can't believe I won th is year's themed category, the Moonlit Landscape! Wow. And had 3 HMs and a HC. I'm flabbergasted! (Mike you missed me in your winners list! haha. You did well to remember all the others - I couldn't!).

It was good to meet fellow IISers and other nice people at the awards as well. It was good to make some new astrophoto contacts and swap ideas and get tips. Watch out next year!

I can't say how much I appreciate John's work with the awards and the tour he took us on. There are also many others that did a lot of work, as well as David Malin of course. Well done everyone.

Anyway, bed time..... yawn...

[Martin Pugh]

Many congratulations to all, but specifically to Jase as the overall competition winner and an absolute corker of an image.

I had also missed the fact that it was an APOD on 8 Jul, so a belated congrats on that one too.

excellent work all.

cheers
Martin