A total of 12 Hungarian photographs made it to the finals of the competition, and 5 of them won prizes, including two that took first place.
the Our moon Category, Image taken with the Svábhegy Observatory's 30 cm refractor: In the shot of Gábor Palaz, the 260 km-diameter Sinus Iridum, i.e. the Rainbow Bay, can be seen as silhouetted by the surrounding Jura mountain peaks. It is displayed on the bay.
In the image, side sunlight highlights details of craters and mountain ranges, and the jagged shadow peaks of the mountains bordering the bay are clearly visible in a semicircular shape.
The young photographer commented on the creation of the award-winning image and the path leading to it:
My introduction to the sky began exactly 10 years ago, when we spent nights at a campsite spying on the night sky. Seeing the Andromeda Galaxy was a special experience for me, and after that I visited different observatories several times, so over time I fell in love with astronomy.
First, for years he sketched objects he saw through binoculars with a pencil to identify them better, then at some point he felt it was time to try another photographic device, and that's how mobile phone photography came about. In 2018. Later, with the help of László Kiss, Director General of the Research Center for Astronomy and Earth Sciences, Gabor began using the Svabje Observatory's 30-centimeter telescope for photography.
This is how it was created Svábhegy solar system panel The project he managed to finish in August 2023 after 3 years of work. In December of that year, he received the Astronomy Photo of the Month award from the Hungarian National Geographic magazine, helped by the fact that since 2023 he has been participating in the science communication activities of the Star Observatory as a presenting astronomer, and can indulge his passion for astrophotography after the evening shows.
On September 9, 2023, after an evening demonstration of the telescope, Gabor stayed behind to image Jupiter's Great Red Spot.
By the time I finished this, the Sickle Moon, which was in its 20.5 percent phase at the time, had just risen. It was a stunning sight with the naked eye, combined with the gray light, and quite impressive through binoculars.
He also looked through the sunlit side, and that's when his eyes caught the stunning shadow peaks of Rainbow Bay (Sinus Iridum). But it also tells us that in addition to Rainbow Bay, many other small craters can be seen in the image.
For example, there is the Pythagoras Crater, 130 km in diameter and 5 km deep, where we can perceive the true elevation conditions of the Moon's terrain when viewed entirely from the side.
(Cover image: The stunning shadow bands of Rainbow Bay on September 10, 2023, 02:32 a.m. Image captured through a green filter using the Svabheje Observatory's 30 cm eyepiece telescope. Image: Svabheje Observatory)
Follow Index on Facebook too!
