Auction Photos

My employer participates in the State Employee Charitable Campaign every year. Our Big Event is a silent auction that contains items donated by employees and local businesses. This year's auction is on October 1st and will be held at the Windham School District Headquarters building in Huntsville, TX.

A coworker suggested that I submit 8x10 prints of some of my astroimages to the auction. I selected four images that I thought would have wide appeal.  Some have been reprocessed so that they would be more suitable for large prints. The images here have been reduced for screen display.

Sword of Orion

This is one of my all-time favorite images, and one of my favorite targets. The large nebula in the center, The Great Orion Nebula (Messier 42), is a complex structure of emission, reflection and dark nebulae. The nebula on the left, The Running Man, is composed of three separately cataloged reflection nebulae: NGC 1973, NGC 1975, and NGC 1977.

The Pleiades

This image of The Pleiades looks great on the screen, but some of the fainter details didn't show up very well in the print. Still, it's made a beautiful photo.

Andromeda Galaxy

This is a new image of the Andromeda Galaxy that I have not posted on the blog before. I took it with my ST80 on the Vixen GP mount. I wasn't impressed with the subs that I was getting, so I cut the session short and moved to another target. Later, when I stacked and processed the image, I realized that it didn't turn out half bad. It has been heavily processed to remove noise and chromatic aberration. I intend to go back and reshoot the Andromeda Galaxy at the next opportunity that I have for imaging.

Flame and Horsehead Nebulae

This image of the Flame and Horsehead nebulae is my favorite of the prints. It is also a new post to the blog, and a reprocess of an older image.

In addition to the prints, I am submitting a certificate for a private screening at the Sam Houston State University planetarium, hosted by planetarium director Mike Prokosch.

If anyone is interested in attending the auction, drop me a line and I'll give you directions to the building.