sciencetech-blog

comments

Wonders of the universe have been revealed in a series of stunning images and videos.

The Central West Astronomical Society's astrophotography competition saw entrants submit images of deep space, the solar system, the moon and much more.

And prizes went not only to technically brilliant images, but also to entrants that captured the beauty of the sky back on Earth, without specialist equipment.

Scroll down to see video entries 

The winners of the 2014 David Malin Awards have been announced. This image by Phil Hart won the theme of 'The Moon. 'This is a striking image that has a quite painterly quality,' said astronomer Dr Malin, after whom the awards are named. 'The careful cropping and a soft and gentle light, makes the photograph look like an art work"

The winners will be on display at the CSIRO Parkes Observatory's Visitor's Centre until July 2015.

Also known as the David Malin Awards, the prizes were presented by British-Australian astronomer Dr Malin himself.

'The quality of the images was of an incredibly high standard and a testament to the great skill and talent of Australian astrophotographers,' the society states on its website.

The images range from swirling dust and gas to moving dishes.

'The winning entries show both technical skill and an ability to capture the beauty of the sky in a visually pleasing way,' said John Sarkissian, CSIRO Operations Scientist at Parkes radio telescope - 'the Dish' - and organiser of the awards.

Matthew Vandeputte received recognition for his stunning video titled 'The Dish', shown above 

This picture by Paul Haese, called 'Dust and Gas', was the overall winner and also the winner of the deep sky category. 'I think this is the best true-colour image of the Orion Nebula I have seen for a long time,' said Dr Malin. 'It has everything. The basics are well covered by a realistic-looking colour balance and the dynamic range, which makes the heart of the nebula look brighter than everything else, which is as it should be'

The high-res solar system category winner was Steven Budar with his 'Mars 2014' series of images. 'Intriguing composition of a series of excellent images of Mars over several months, all of them showing fine resolution and the obvious change in the diameter of the planet with distance,' said Dr Malin

He continued: 'More than 200 entries were submitted this year.

'With such stiff competition, to have received any one of these awards is a great honour. Congratulations to all of the finalists and winners.'

The overall winner, and also the winner of the deep sky category for images taken with a telescpe, was Paul Haese.

His winning entry showed the Great Nebula in the constellation Orion, a star-forming region 1,300 light-years from Earth.

Another stunning image, this one by Phil Hart, showed the moon setting over a shipping channel.

Stefan Buda, meanwhile, took a series of images of Mars in 2014, showing the planet come closer to Earth and appear larger in view.

His images also show how much ice is visible at the Martian poles.

The competition will run again next year, when entrants will again have the chance to win prizes such as those offered by Canon this year, which included thousands of pounds worth of photography equipment.

Phil Hart won the 'wide-field' category with his 'Dusty Hearty of the Milky Way' images. 'This is a perfectly simple rendition of the Milky Way using an off-the-shelf camera and a standard 50mm lens. However, the quality of the result is outstanding, especially the colour balance and stunning detail'

Paul Haese also won the wide-field solar system category with his 'Prominence' photo. 'This is a stunning image in all respects, and shows the active sun and large prominence on the limb,' said Dr Malin. 'A lot of effort and specialised knowledge goes into making images of this quality, and this is a superb example of an arcane art'