PHOTOGRAPHY AND ASTRONOMY AT SYDNEY OBSERVATORY

Photography and astronomy have a long association at Sydney Observatory. Henry Chamberlain Russell, former government astronomer and director of the Observatory, began photographing the sky in the early 1870s. You can see the photographic plates he used to photograph the transit of Venus in 1874 in room 6. Sydney Observatory also participated in the astrographic catalogue and Carte du Ciel projects launched in Paris in 1887 aiming to photograph every section of the sky seen from Earth. The Observatory had the largest segment of the sky to complete among the 20 observatories participating. By 1890 astronomers from Sydney Observatory and its outpost observatory at Red Hill (now Pennant Hills) had begun taking images that eventually numbered more than 20,000 plates, revealing details that previously had not been evident through a telescope or with the naked eye. Today the tradition of astrophotography continues through the work of our own astronomers and the annual David Malin awards and Winning sky photos exhibition.

Winning sky photos

THE DAVID MALIN AWARDS 2012
Winning sky photos is the exhibition of the top entries from the David Malin Awards astrophotography competition held annually by the Central West Astronomical Society and open to photographers around Australia. The photographs are judged by world renowned astrophotographer Dr David Malin. The competition aims to encourage photographers to use their vision, imagination and skill to produce inspiring and beautiful images of the sky. There are seven categories: deep sky; wide-eld; solar system: high-res (eld of view less than one moon-width); solar system: wide-eld (eld of view greater than one moon-width); animated sequences; and junior (18 years and under). This years open theme was Symmetries. A Photo Editors Choice Award was added in 2012.

KEY
TOILETS (outside) 5 EMERGENCY EXIT WHEELCHAIR/GROUP ENTRY Lecture room GROUND FLOOR 4

Winning Sky Photos

GROUND FLOOR
Entry
Cycle 24 By Paul Haese Magnetic activity in the Suns outer layers ows and ebbs over 11 years. The 24th cycle since measurements began has nally kicked off with a show of arcing prominences, dark laments, bright ares and, from Earth, rippling polar auroral displays.

Room 4
Bright Night by Grahame Kelaher Long exposure images of the night sky illuminated by the Moon show it is blue just like daylight even if our eyes cannot see this. In this image the Moon is hidden behind the pinnacle.

EMERGENCY EXIT ENTRY/EXIT

3 1 2 EMERGENCY EXIT

Planetarium
(occasional sessions)

FIRST FLOOR
North Dome Landing
King of Pain by Peter Ward This is a superb image. The lyrics of the song King of Pain by the Police, apparently have the line Theres a little black dot on the Sun today. David Malin Venus Transit in H-Alpha Light by Peter Ward The June 2012 transit of Venus was only the seventh transit ever observed by astronomers and is the last for more than a century. H-alpha is red light (here recoloured orange) emitted by hydrogen atoms, which shows us the intricate surface structure of our Sun.

Room 1
Speared Emu by Alex Cherney Dark clouds in the Milky Way form a life-like impression of an emu a celestial gure featured in the stories of Indigenous groups across Australia. Here comet Lovejoy (C/2011 W3) appears like a spear in the emus body. Totality over Tikahana Motu by Geoff Sims A total solar eclipse is a spectacular and emotional astronomical experience. Each one is visible from a limited strip of the Earths surface, providing an excellent excuse to travel to remote and exotic destinations.

North Dome Landing Animations Balcony 10 11

FIRST FLOOR 6 Russell room 9

12

South Dome Landing

Sydney Observatory, part of the Powerhouse Museum, is a NSW government cultural institution. 2012 Trustees of the Powerhouse Museum

Please return to reception

Room 7
Eastern Veil Nebula by Martin Pugh A ghost-like cloud of wispy gas hovers in the constellation Cygnus. This gas was expelled into space by a supernova the death of a massive star. Emu Crossing by Richard Tonello The full beauty of the Milky Way is only visible where light pollution does not mask its faint light. In remote places where emus are a road hazard the sky will probably be dark enough to see the celestial dark-cloud emu.

Jupiter from Exmouth, WA by Anthony Wesley Jupiter, king of the planets, displays a dynamic surface of swirling clouds. In 2010 the south equatorial belt, usually red-brown and mirroring its wide northern companion, was missing. Crown Jewels above Lake Tekapo by Alex Cherney The Milky Way hovers like a jewelled tiara over Lake Tekapo, New Zealand. This image also shows the zodiacal light sunlight scattering off dust in the solar system as a wide almost vertical band of white light. The Large Magellanic Cloud lies to the left.

Partially Lunar over Luna by Trent McDougall The Moon rising over Luna Park, Sydney. The image displays symmetry in terms of a literal sense rather than visual. David Malin

Road to the Milky Way by Mike Salway The Milky Way soars overhead. Best seen on moonless nights, its dark patches have been likened to many things including an emu, kangaroo, llama, fox, frog, serpents and human forms.

Star Trails over Lake Wivenhoe by Stephen Mudge Star trails are the simplest astrophoto technique just aim a stationary camera and open the shutter. Software is now available to combine multiple short exposures to simulate long-exposure star-trails. The Blue Horsehead to Rho Ophiuchi by Greg Bradley The Milky Way contains a mind-boggling number of stars try to imagine one hundred thousand million. Towards the galactic centre we see the densest star clouds. Pinnacles Desert Starscape 1 by Zane Hammond The Milky Way is our home galaxy. It consists of stars and planets, gas, dust and a vast amount of invisible dark matter. We see its spiral disk from within, but edge-on.

Animated sequences
Nocturnal by Colin Legg Comet Lovejoy and ISS by Greg Priestley Red Aurora Australis by Alex Cherney Starlit Silhouettes by Alex Cherney, The Venus and Jupiter Show by Phil Hart Transit of Venus in White Light and H-Alpha by David Hough Running time: 11 mins

Room 9
Antares Region by Gary Hill The birth of stars is hidden inside dark clouds. The hottest stars ood the cloud in ultra-violet light causing it to glow red and disperse.

Room 11
IC5067 by Martin Pugh This cloud of gas and dust in the constellation of Cygnus is a nursery for stars. Recently formed stars, not shown in this image, are burning into this cloud and destroying it like a hairdryer into ice. NGC 5128: Centaurus A by Nathan Coleman This galaxy, approximately 13 million light years beyond the stars of the Milky Way, is a prodigious source of radio energy. The stars are round and nicely coloured. Im impressed that Nathan has got his head around the challenging software. David Malin Santas Sleigh Trail! by Wayne England Following a busy night, Santa heads out along the Milky Way to his icy North Pole home. The white trail is visible because dust particles scatter the sunlight. Night Market by Jason Jennings A smorgasbord of galactic components: glowing red hydrogen gas, white clouds of thousands of stars, dark clouds of gas and dust and a cluster of young, hot blue stars.

Equinoctial Twins by Geoffrey Wyatt The mirage image here is a result of light from the Sun bending upwards as it passes through the warmer air near the oceans surface. The upper twin is the real Sun. Interestingly, the average density of the Sun is not much greater than that of water. Super Moon Cruise by Stephanie Hough The dark patches on the Moon are called mare, or seas, and were once thought to really hold water. We now know the Moon is bone dry except for ice deposited by comets in permanently shaded polar craters. NGC 3372 The Great Nebula in Carina by Nathan Coleman This gas cloud not far from the Southern Cross contains the massive star Eta Carinae. In the 1840s this aging, unstable star shed a cloud of dust and disappeared from naked-eye view for over a century. Eta Carinae is visible here just below-left of centre.

Room 12
Melbourne Moon by Phil Hart A busy but very interesting shot of the Williamstown dockyards dominated by a full moon, all of it pervaded by a mistiness that adds colour and softens an industrial subject. It is a strong, eye-catching image. David Malin

Competition winners
Melbourne Moon by Phil Hart Winner, Solar System: Wide Field category and Overall Winner IC5067 by Martin Pugh Winner, Deep Sky category Speared Emu by Alex Cherney Winner, Wide Field category King of Pain by Peter Ward Winner, Solar System: Hi-Res category Partially Lunar over Luna by Trent McDougall Winner, Open Theme Category NGC 5128: Centaurus A by Nathan Coleman Winner, Junior category Crown Jewels above Lake Tekapo by Alex Cherney Winner, Photo Editors Choice Award
All other images on display received Honourable Mentions

The support of Canon Australia and the CSIROs Australia Telescope National Facility is acknowledged. The tour of the exhibition is organised by Sydney Observatory. Sydney Observatory is part of the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney.