The 2010 Advanced Imaging Conference (AIC) in San Jose, California, is officially less than a day old. Even so, already I’ve had first encounters with several people who contributed images to this November’s issue of Astronomy magazine.

The first meeting occurred during the shuttle ride last night from the airport to the conference. I chatted with Mark Manner of Nunnelly, Tennessee. You can see his image of galaxy cluster Abell 262 on page 71.

Then, as I was mowing down breakfast, John Davis of Dallas, Texas, (pictured at right) sat next to me. After we introduced ourselves, I asked, “Are you the John A. Davis who submits images to the magazine?” Indeed he is. I told him his images were terrific and that I thought we’d printed one of them recently. “Yes, you did,” he beamed, as he held up the November issue. (Thanks to the magazine’s distribution department, every AIC attendee received a copy of that issue at the registration table here.) You’ll see John’s image of the Cat’s Paw Nebula (NGC 6334) and the Lobster Nebula (NGC 6357) also on page 71.

And to round off the images on page 71, long-time contributor Adam Block, who runs the Mount Lemmon SkyCenter, thanked me for including his shot of the Box, a foursome of the galaxies NGC 4169, NGC 4173, NGC 4174, and NGC 4175.

No, Adam, John, and Mark … thank you. Thanks for making my job as photo editor easy by sending in such great images.

More blogs will follow, and check out the photos I've taken so far in our Online Reader Gallery. What a great conference already!

Related blogs:
The best imagers are in California
On my way to the AIC 2010

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