Celebrating the Unheralded

Hi Brian,

good olde academic evaluation metrics - you can’t hide your former job ;-)

anyway, could be a fun exercise indeed. So I checked mine, so my most liked not forwarded image is

https://app.astrobin.com/i/g2bnb1

with 60% above my L*. However, it is based on several year old data (actually my first mono data taken) which I reprocessed recently (and it got a fair number of likes), but as a reprocessed image it did not enter the competition. The same for the next few apparent nearly misses - they also are more recent rendition that did not compete . So my highest ranked true unheralded image is the following, which I actually like quite a bit:

https://app.astrobin.com/i/80x36g

with 40% above L*.

Matthias

Bill McLaughlin · Jan 25, 2026 at 06:57 PM

Tony Gondola · Jan 25, 2026, 05:01 PM

I’m sure that the bin doesn’t have enough judges to do this but I would love to see categories of awards,

That would be nice but, as you say, so many images, so few judges and so little time.

It is also unfortunate that awards can often neglect a technically well done image of a small and/or uninteresting (not esthetic or spectacular) object.

But awards can only do so much and will always be limited by something.

Tony Gondola · Jan 25, 2026 at 05:01 PM

Great image, those southern skies again!

I’m sure that the bin doesn’t have enough judges to do this but I would love to see categories of awards, maybe based on aperture or degree of light pollution. It would also be great to see Solar System imaging as a separate category with a sub-set of judges who specialize in the area. All pipe dreams I know but it would spread the joy around a bit more. Something similar to CN’s (ich!) small bore challenge would be fun.

I know it’s not statistically true but it seems like the winner these days is often from a large rig at a exotic location or a group project from large rigs at exotic locations :-). This makes sense if the judging is based on first visual impact and only later the details are examined. I think this is the way it works but please correct me if it isn’t.

Hi Tony, I have no knowledge about how the IoTD is decided, nor do I want to. That way lies madness.

The only thing I know for sure is that bronze and silvers stars are awarded without knowledge of who the imager is, whereas the the judges are aware of the imagers for the gold star award. At least as far as I know.

It wouldnt surprise me if most of the gold stsrs went to big teams using big telescopes on big mountains. They tend to be better images, after all.

Dont think I need a category for backyard small scopes, I am happy as I am.

CS Brian

Brian Boyle · Jan 26, 2026 at 04:01 AM

Bill McLaughlin · Jan 25, 2026 at 06:57 PM

Tony Gondola · Jan 25, 2026, 05:01 PM

I’m sure that the bin doesn’t have enough judges to do this but I would love to see categories of awards,

That would be nice but, as you say, so many images, so few judges and so little time.

It is also unfortunate that awards can often neglect a technically well done image of a small and/or uninteresting (not esthetic or spectacular) object.

But awards can only do so much and will always be limited by something.

As I say Bill, tbis is not a critique of the process, but a celebration of those image that didn’t quite make it - for whatever reason.