My name is Mike Salway and I’m passionate about Astronomy, Karate and Photography. In September 2004 I co-founded the Astronomy website, IceInSpace with my friend Terry Mohan, and since then it has grown to be the biggest and most active astronomy website in the Southern Hemisphere.
I practise Martial Arts, specifically Shotokan Karate with Black Belt Martial Arts on the Central Coast of NSW, Australia. I’m a 1st Dan Black Belt (obtained in June 2010), and love it for the fitness, flexibility, confidence and community.
I also love Photography, specifically landscapes around twilight – even better if there’s some astronomical interest in the sky, like a Crescent Moon or Moon and Planet conjunction.
As a day job, I’m a Product Manager for a Software Company in Sydney. Coming from a technical background, I enjoy reading about new technology and have an interest in social media and marketing.
Finally, I have a wonderful family with my wife Kate, and our three kids, Jacob, Eliza and Abbey.
What you can find here
This is where I’ll share my astrophotography and photography, news and videos from my karate tournaments and any other personal information that’s worthy of sharing.
You can navigate using the 2 levels of menus above – the top menu takes you to the static pages like Reviews and Articles, or information about the Equipment I use in my hobbies. The second menu will take you to posts tagged with that item, which is a great way to find my images or posts about a particular subject. If you’re looking for my old Coppermine Gallery, it’s still there but hasn’t been updated in a few years. Generally, if you’re looking for images before October 2008, use the Gallery. For everything after that, use the second menu above.
Astronomy
A bit about my Astronomy background. My first telescope was a 10″ dob bought in July 2004, and I became interested in solar system astrophotography later that year. After persisting with non-tracking planetary photography for about 9 months, I bought an Equatorial Platform in June 2005 and my results steadily improved as my techniques for capture and processing improved.
In December 2006, I upgraded to a 12″ newt on an EQ6 mount and during my peak was considered by some to be among Australia’s best lunar and planetary imagers. I enjoy visual observing at monthly new moon meets through my friend Rod’s 20″ SDM, and I enjoy dabbling in deep-space photography with an ED80 and a Canon 350D.
Unfortunately my interest levels for Astronomy have taken a back seat for the past 12-18 months while I’ve concentrated on other interests (Karate mainly), but it’s the type of hobby and interest that will never go away. I hope to get back into it soon!
Karate
I practise Martial Arts, specifically Shotokan Karate with Black Belt Martial Arts on the Central Coast of NSW, Australia. I’m a 1st Dan Black Belt (obtained in June 2010), and love it for the fitness, flexibility, confidence and community.
I compete in Kumite (sparring) tournaments and enjoy the challenge of pushing myself out of my comfort zone, and put into practise what we learn in class. I usually try to record my sparring matches and you’ll find them on YouTube (though they’re getting a bit old now) or embedded here using the Karate category.
Photography
Unfortunately I don’t get enough time to go out and take photos much – certainly not as much as I’d like to. But I do love landscape photography, specifically around coastal areas and around twilight (morning or evening).
I use a Canon 40D and usually a 24-105mm L lens as my main kit. You can see some of my photography by using the Photography category.
Highlights
In the past incarnation of this page, I had a long laundry list of achievements and features in magazines or on radio. Given that they’re quite old now, they’re just not as relevant any more. So maybe I’ll just list a few highlights and things that I’m most proud of.
- Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) – 26th February 2009 (Mercury, Jupiter, Moon and Mars Conjunction)
- Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) – 5th December 2008 (Smiley Face Conjunction)
- Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) – 30th September 2008 (Four Rocky Planets in one Field of View)
- Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) – 29th March 2007 (Jupiter)
- Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) – 18th March 2006 (Jupiter)
- SPSP imaging comp – various 1st and 2nd places in Solar System and Widefield category
- CWAS AstroFest David Malin Awards – 1st Place and Honourable Mentions in Solar System and Heaven and Earth category
- Jupiter image in Sky&Telescope Magazine’s Beautiful Universe 2008
- “Depth of a strong jovian jet from a planetary-scale disturbance driven by storms” – Nature Journal (January 2008). Agustin Sánchez-Lavega et al. PDF
- “An Evolution in High-Resolution Planetary Imaging” – Astronomy 2008 Yearbook, Quasar Publishing (November 2007)
- Wired.com – Backyard Stargazers profile (August 2007)
- Newspaper articles for Central Coast Express Advocate on the subject of the August 2007 Total Lunar Eclipse (15/08/2007, 31/08/2007)
For a more thorough review of my first 5 years in Astronomy, this article is for you – My Journey in Astronomy: 5 Years since it all began!
Contact
Use the email form on the contact page to send me a message. You can subscribe to the site and receive new posts via email or your feed reader. You can connect with me on social media using the widget on the right or in the footer, too.
Lastly, you can also find me on the IceInSpace Forums as “iceman”. If you’re into astronomy or astrophotography, please join the forums and get in touch!
I’d love to hear from you about absolutely anything.











