Nothing is more exciting than seeing our filters in action. Over the past two years, our photo contest has allowed us to see how our customers are changing the world with Omega products. This year, the response to the photo contest was especially impressive. We are so grateful to have such innovative customers and are excited to choose the winner this week - so stay tuned! Without further ado, here are the 2020 Photo Contest contenders.
This first contribution is from Jean-Luc Dauvergne and was taken from his balcony in Paris with a 300mm telescope. He writes that ‘It's the best views of Jupiter ever done for such a low elevation in the sky’. He utilized the Sloan r', sloan g', Ir cut, custom B505 filter.
This second contribution from Jean-Luc Dauvergne was also taken from his Paris balcony with a 300m telescope. He says that ‘these two images underline the importance of filters. The right one shows the very thin clouds of Mars with a 425-50 nm bleu filter’. The filters used are the Sloan r' ang g' (left) and B425-50 (right).
For his third photo, Jean-Luc writes “here is the best global map of Mars ever done from the ground”, using the IR-cut, R680, IR805.
Our next submission is from Raul Leon. The photo is a sketch of IC 10 using GCE filter that was made with a 15 inch Starstructure dob f/4.3 He utilized a GCE Omega DGM Omega filter.
This photo comes from Bruce Benik II. It captures Deception Pass State Park on November 11, 2020, and uses a 3 minutes exposure infrared 720. Bruce was able to take the photo using a HOYA R72 & B+W 110 ND 3,0 10BL 1000x MRC filter.
Here we have a contribution from Boitet Maylis. They write ‘we used Omega filters to selectively visualize a NIR-probe expressed in the mouse brain. As seen in the figure, the Omega filter allows selective detection of the NIR-IR probe visualized with color, despite full illumination of the mice as shown using no filter in black and white”. Their team used a RapidEdge LP690 filter.
Tom Fenslau submitted a photo of Hedera nepalensis K. Koch autofluorescence with a custom-built fluorescence cube (3x Omega Filters). The filters they worked with were 330WB80; 400DCLP; 410LP RapidEdge.
This next contribution comes from Russell Hippert. He says that “with far less integration time than my best image from home so far, this is the first time I've ever picked up hints of the "X" and outer structure. All thanks to the Omega LFP filter”. He also included the conditions when the photo was taken and the gear used;
These next photos were taken by Dale Smalley. He writes that this first photo captures the “Statue of Liberty Nebula NGC3576 - my location is Bortle class 8 (very light polluted)” and that he “couldn't have captured this image without the Omega filter”. The photo was taken using the XAF-NPB200 filter.
This second photo, also taken by Dale Smalley, is of the Tarantula Nebula and utilized the XAF-NPB200 filter.
Thank you to everyone who participated in this year’s photo contest! We are so grateful to have customers who are also pushing the boundaries of innovation. We will be choosing and announcing the winners this week so stay tuned and make sure to follow us on social media so you don’t miss the announcement!