• In spirit of Curie's mission to promote undiscovered but exceptional content, we wish to use this weekly section to provide an author showcase for some of the outstanding authors who received Curie upvotes in past week. Curie curators and reviewers nominate authors for inclusion in this showcase and author approval is sought and attained.

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Featured Author: @garethb
Astrophotography: Volume Two (All Original Work)

Photo by @garethb - used with permission

@garethb

A self-proclaimed petrolhead with an obsession with cars and photography, @garethb has posted some amazing photos and video footage of cars and racing as well as landscape and skyscape photography. He recently bought a drone and is working on editing some footage filmed in the same Drakensberg region of South Africa as the skyscape photography in our featured post, so stay tuned to his blog for that forthcoming.

The clear air of the remote Drakensberg mountains obviously lends itself to vivid skycapes. It was hard to pick one single image to feature from this post, as they are all stunning. In addition to the more traditional skycapes like the one above, shot with a max 20 second exposure, @garethb also captured some amazing "startrails" using an interesting technique:

For the star trails, I use a method known as stacking, whereby you take a bunch of 30 second exposures - one directly after the other - for about an hour (the longer you go for, the longer the trail becomes). Once you're done shooting, load all your photos into your favourite image editing program, and merge them all together. It's a bit more time consuming, but the results speak for themselves.

You have to see the resulting star trails, because they do speak for themselves. I had never seen this technique used before and it produces hypnotic spiraling patterns, somehow beautifully complex and simple in form at the same time. Our featured post is the second part of a series of astrophotography, check them both out:

Part 2: https://steemit.com/photography/@garethb/astrophotography-volume-two-all-original-work

Part 1: https://steemit.com/photography/@garethb/astrophotography-volume-one-all-original-work

And hot off the presses, Part 3 published just today with more on the techniques used!
https://steemit.com/photography/@garethb/astrophotography-volume-three-a-guide-to-getting-started

Featured Author: @samcook (with @thisisjordan)
Steemit Open Mic Week 71 - Original song - True Love by L.A.W

Still image from "True Love" used with permission.

@thisisjordan & @samcook

"True Love" is a wistfully sweet song that @samcook wrote about meeting and falling in love with @thisisjordan. The two are now a couple and also form a band called L.A.W. (Love At War). Their voices complement each other perfectly as they give us some ethereal reverb-drenched vocals to float away on. The simple accompaniment (drum machine, root note bass part and jangling rhythm guitar) lets the vocals soar above weightlessly; this is truly an example of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. It all comes together into a Steem blockchain original pop masterpiece. The Steemit Open Mic contest continues to bring us amazing performances, so a big thanks to all involved there as well!

After listening to this this song I really enjoyed reading @thisisjordan's post How a tinder date turned into a band , which tells the story of how they met and even explains some of True Love's lyrics. Check out their blogs to hear more original music, as well as art by @samcook and dance tutorials by @thisisjordan!

Featured Author: @nataschachem
My Discovery of Novel Compound in Coal [Entire Process]

"Scientist by day" - @natashachem

I hope that my work and discovery will have a big impact on chemistry and coal development in the future. Feel free to ask any questions related to my work, leave me a comment and I'll try my best with any further explanations.

When was the last time you saw a breakthrough scientific discovery published on the Steem blockchain for the first time? Our next featured post details the discovery and documentation of the first known occurrence of dehydroicetexanes in geological samples. While analyzing the composition of lignites from the Miocene coal deposits in the Kostolac basin in Serbia, @nataschachem discovered an unknown compound. The details are quite technical but @nataschachem was eventually able to extract enough of the pure compound to determine its structure with NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) spectroscopy. The process of extraction and analysis involves several steps and @nataschachem walks us through the entire process.

Reverse phase high-performance liquid chromatography image by @nataschachem - used with permission

While preparing a scientific paper with more in-depth documentation of this discovery for publication in academic journals, @nataschachem decided to publish an abstract of her findings for the first time here on Steem blockchain. I hope other academics reading this see the opportunity to do the same in the future!

Follow @nataschachem for:

• Organic geochemistry;
• Environmental chemistry;
• Isotopic analysis;
• Experiments, classes and lab work;
• Traveling and etc.

Featured Author: @pierrehugo
Exploring the adventurous parts of Langkawi

Photo by @pierrehugo - used with permission

The combination of amazing scenery & wildlife with @pierrehugo's eye for photography (of both the hand held camera and drone footage variety) gives us a truly special travel post. You need to see his adventures in Langkawai for yourself. Once you are done soaking in the wild beauty of Langkawai, get to know @pierrehugo a little better in his own words:

@pierrehugo

‘I am a passionate traveler and photographer constantly seeking the next adventure. Surfing, sailing, scuba diving, nature and hiking are among my favorite activities. What better adventures to combine photography and drone footage with?! Langkawi was a starting point for helping out with a delivery of a 41ft sailing yacht. I had a few days to explore while waiting for the boat to be ready. After just under a month of sailing we finally got to the Island of Koh Chang, Thailand, where I am currently.

My mission is to travel Thailand and do a basic engineering course in the next month, after which I plan to travel further in SE Asia to sail, surf and explore. In 5 months time I am starting a new job on a 77ft sailing catamaran, to seek the best dive sites around the world.

It truly is a dream job and I can’t wait to share my adventures with everyone on Steemit! What a revolutionary platform to be part of.

That all sounds exciting and I for one am looking forward to @pierrehugo's upcoming posting!

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This Curie Author Showcase was written by Curie community representative @carlgnash with input from other Curie curators and reviewers.