Astrophotography - The Solar System

This is an epic image of our mighty star. I love how you've framed an image of the Sun below the solar flare and prominences. The varying hues of red, yellow and orange give the image a real sense of power and scale. A breathtaking piece of work which shows patience, knowledge and artistic ability - bringing a sense of art to a scientific level masterpiece. This double photograph is without a doubt one of the most powerful astronomical images I have ever seen on Photocrowd. Very well done.

I adore this shot of the Moon. it looks like something taken from a movie like 2001 A Space Odyssey! The sharpness, shadow variations - especially across the terminator line and that slight tilt come together in making a truly wonderful image. You have managed to make the Moon look somehow alien, closer and more interesting. Awesome work.

What a great image! The time and commitment needed to capture this lovely little planet, and your fantastic description of that process easily puts this image in the top ten. It's not the sort of astro image that would normally do well in competitions as they are almost exclusively dominated by images of the Milky Way or star trails. This little gem in the reason I ran the contest, the skill used to bring it to us, and the fantastic detail of the surface of an alien world are just huge. Thank you so much.

Having taken many images of planets myself with webcams mounted to refracting telescopes over the years I have gained a real appreciation for the level of skill, patience and understanding required to take an image such as this. Most people are familiar with the spectacle of Saturn, and its intricate ring system. But how many people understand the amount of time, hours spent setting up, the time taken to record the image, and hours spend trying to stack the images and lift intricate detail in the cloud belts and rings? This is an exceptional image, and you have displayed a tremendous amount of skill in capturing it so beautifully.

This competition was open only to images of solar system objects. The Northern Lights are a process, i.e. not a planet, asteroid, moon, sun and so on. I asked for those judging the contest to be mindful of images that did not fit the brief - and it appears in this case my brief was ignored by many - such as no images of the Milky way whatsoever. It's a nice image, but not appropriate for this competition. I did write a comment on this image prior to the judging period, and you clearly ignored it. It's a real shame because images which did fit the brief - and which were more than worthy of a high rating have been ignored. Sadly, it makes Photocrowd look like the fast food version of an image competition site - where the spectacular (and this image is that) push ahead of the worthy, interesting and rule abiding. This image does not belong here, and your ranking in this contest is thus undeserved.

A beautiful diamond ring image of the 2017 solar eclipse! Solar flares can easily been seen erupting from the Sun's photosphere - a real dramatic event and skilfully captured. The viewer gets a real sense of the power and atmosphere associated which the event. Thank you for sharing this magical image with us.

All competitions have rules, and it's a shame when nice images are entered wrongly. The Astrophotography Solar System competition was open to people who submitted images of solar system objects. In this case a photo of a nebula was entered. All images entered wrongly were commented on by me prior to judging - so respectfully there is no excuse for this. It's a double shame when images which do not meet the rules do well in competitions - as it's a poke in the eye for those who do play fairly.

All competitions have rules, and it's a shame when nice images are entered wrongly. The Astrophotography Solar System competition was open to people who submitted images of solar system objects. In this case a shot of the Milky Way was entered. All images entered wrongly were commented on by me prior to judging - so respectfully there is no excuse for this. It's a double shame when images which do not meet the rules do well in competitions - as it's a poke in the eye for those who do play fairly.

All competitions have rules, and it's a shame when nice images are entered wrongly. The Astrophotography Solar System competition was open to people who submitted images of solar system objects. In this case a shot of the Milky Way was entered. All images entered wrongly were commented on by me prior to judging - so respectfully there is no excuse for this. It's a double shame when images which do not meet the rules do well in competitions - as it's a poke in the eye for those who do play fairly.