2021 - Image of the Week #47

[Kayaker72]

Welcome to TDP forum's "Image of the Week" competition. Each week photographers may submit their images for the title of "Image of the Week." Weekly winners will then compete on a monthly, quarterly, and in our annual poll for the title of "TDP Forum Image of the Year."




Week 47 entry period will be from Monday, November 15th through/including Sunday, November 21st.
Please provide a title for your image.
This is an open competition for landscape, portrait, architectural, macro, or any other appropriate photographic style.
Images should have been either recently taken or processed.
Enter as many times as you would like.



This week will be judged by Jonathan Huyer.

[NFLD Stephen]

Andromeda:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51684460197_75923c04e4_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2mKbnmH)Andromeda Galaxy M31 (https://flic.kr/p/2mKbnmH) by Stephen (https://www.flickr.com/photos/nfld_stephen/), on Flickr

[Joel Eade]

"Are you lookin at me?"

https://joeleadephotography.zenfolio.com/img/s/v-10/p3627747125-5.jpg

[Kayaker72]

Great shots Joel and Stephen! Already a tough week.

"Welton Falls"

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51688037745_fa19c992d0_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2mKuGQz)537A5011-stacked (https://flic.kr/p/2mKuGQz) by kayaker72 (https://www.flickr.com/photos/kayaker72/), on Flickr

[Zach]

"Framed Great Egret"
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51680768716_2901329646_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2mJRs1u)_MG_0871 (https://flic.kr/p/2mJRs1u) by Deer Creek Photography (https://www.flickr.com/photos/191336345@N02/), on Flickr

[Zach]

"Evening Bloom"
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51681023468_4390351ec5_c.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2mJSKJL)_MG_0924 (https://flic.kr/p/2mJSKJL) by Deer Creek Photography (https://www.flickr.com/photos/191336345@N02/), on Flickr

[Kayaker72]

Second one this week from me...same hike....

"Fowler River"
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51692844371_e7dd24823f_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/2mKVkFr)537A4973-Edit (https://flic.kr/p/2mKVkFr) by kayaker72 (https://www.flickr.com/photos/kayaker72/), on Flickr

[Busted Knuckles]

Wow, glad it is not me having to judge these are all fantastic

[Jonathan Huyer]

Hey Stephen, the Hubble Space Telescope called --- they want their picture back! :cool: Seriously, it's a fantastic shot that required incredible skill to achieve. As a bit of an astro-geek myself, I'm mightily impressed. I know where to find the Andromeda Galaxy in the night sky, and just seeing it with binoculars gives me goosebumps. Fun fact: In 4.5 billion years, we'll collide with this galaxy, thanks to our mutual gravitational attraction. Anyhow, your shot is "worlds apart", and well worthy of this week's win. Congrats and keep them coming!

[Kayaker72]

I was today years old when I learned that we are going to collide with Andromeda.

On one hand, I am excited that it is doing nothing but getting larger and brighter in the sky. But, I am a little put off by the whole "collision" thing....

And congrats Stephen. Really impressive image.

[NFLD Stephen]

Thanks Jonathan and Brant! Some excellent shots this week, I'm very humbled to have won...I mean, just look at the eyes on that owl!

Stephen

[Jonathan Huyer]

Yes the owl would have taken the title for sure this week, if it wasn't outshone by 100 billion stars :p. By the way, I should also comment that I really like the way you oriented the image of Andromeda. With astrophotography you have the added task of deciding which way should be up, and the orientation you chose certainly helps make the image powerful and dramatic.

[Zach]

Congrats Stephen! An awe inspiring shot indeed.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Joel Eade]

What can I say?

I tried but hard to beat an entire galaxy in a single frame:)

Fantastic image!

[NFLD Stephen]

Thanks again everyone. I should point out that it's actually three galaxies, one probably wouldn't have been enough! The "smudge" in the centre just below andromeda is actually M110 Galaxy and the bright spot directly "above" M110 and just on the upper edge of andromeda is Galaxy M32. According to a google search, M110 is a dwarf elliptical galaxy 2.6 million lightyears away and consisting of 10 billion stars; M32 is 2.5 million lightyears away and has an estimated 1 trillion stars (and suspected to have a black hole at the centre). Andromeda Galaxy (M31) itself is also estimated around 1 trillion stars which is around the same order of magnitude as our own milky way galaxy. So it definitely took more than 100 billion stars to win this week!

As for framing, Jonathan you're right that certainly one difficult aspect of Astrophotography. Especially with dim objects it's hard to know exactly what you have in the frame when you're taking the shots. You have to use other stars as a guide and try to visualize how big the targets are. For the capture I had the long axis of andromeda parallel to the long axis of the sensor cause I wasn't exactly sure how large it would be and I didn't want to clip the edges. Andromeda is actually quite large and almost fills a full frame sensor at the 447mm focal length used here. Much bigger than the apparent size of the moon!

Stephen

[Jayson]

Congratulations Stephen!