Notices by Anthony Horton (spacelizard@aus.social)

The Sydney weather does not want me to do astrophotography. Apparently I can get clear skies only when there's a full or nearly full Moon. New Moon? Clouds and maybe some rain. It's been doing this every month since I got my Seestar.

#Astrophotography

Huh, the Moon doesn't rise until almost 11 pm tonight and clear skies are forecast. I have a Plan!

The Seestar is set up outside, I've taken twilight flats and checked polar alignment, and the Plan is loaded and ready to start as soon as it gets a bit darker. Going to work on a Rho Ophiuchi Cloud Complex mosaic until the Moon rises, before switching to other targets for the rest of the night.

#Astrophotography #Seestar #SeestarS30Pro #TMMT #ThirtyMillimetreTelescope

Right, this was a challenging image mosaic to process!

It the Rho Ophiuchi Cloud Complex, near the bright yellow star Antares (upper left) and Crab Globular Cluster, M4 (lower left).

It's a 4 panel mosaic with a grand total of 8 hours exposure time with the Thirty Millimetre Telescope, taken over two nights from suburban Sydney before the Moon rose. This would definitely benefit from a *lot* more exposure time (and darker skies) but this will do for now. All processing in Siril with SyQon and VeraLux scripts. It took a bit of trial and error to iron out the residual sky background gradients but I got most of the way there in the end. It's oriented north right, east left because it fits on computer monitors better that way.

Full resolution version here: https://drhotdog.smugmug.com/Nature/Seeing-Stars/i-hdHKKGF/A

#Seestar #SeestarS30Pro #TMMT #ThirtyMillimetreTelescope #Astrophotography #Siril #SyQon #VeraLux

Well this came out better than I expected. It's NGC300 as seen with just under 3 hours of total exposure time on the Thirty Millimetre Telescope (Seestar S30 Pro), taken from suburban Sydney (Bortle 7) while the Moon was up.

Galaxies are not what this telescope is best at, but I wanted to try this one anyway as I feel a personal connection to it. It was the first target that we pointed the first "Huntsman Eye" single lens prototype of the Huntsman Telescope at during our first observing run. It is also the official deep sky object of the Golden Dragon Chinese Restaurant in Coonabarabran, near Siding Spring Observatory.

Processing in Siril with SyQon and VeraLux scripts.

#Astrophotography #Seestar #SeestarS30Pro #TMMT #ThirtyMillimetreTelescope #Siril #SyQon #VeraLux

I took advantage of the clear and moonless (but still light polluted) skies last night to get some more exposure time on the Rho Ophiuchi Cloud Complex.

For the second half of the night I did some more experimenting with using the Thirty Millimetre Telescope to go after galaxies. Most are too small to make for an interesting picture by themselves at this magnification, but with multiple objects in the field of view you can make something work.

Here's the Sculptor Galaxy with the globular cluster NGC 288, and the Fornax Cluster of galaxies.

#Astrophotography #SeestarS30Pro #Seestar #ThirtyMillimetreTelescope #TMMT

I got a bit more exposure time on the Rho Ophiuchi Cloud Complex tonight and then reprocessed all the data.

This 4 panel mosaic now has a total of about 19 hours of exposure time with my Seestar S30 Pro in it, shot from suburban Sydney (Bortle 7). All processing in Siril with SyQon, GraXpert and VeraLux scripts. Orientation is north right, east left because it fits on computer monitors better that way.

At this point I think I'm going to call this done, at least for the near future. To do appreciably better with the Thirty Millimetre Telescope I think I'd need to get a *lot* of exposure time from a darker site.

Full resolution here: https://drhotdog.smugmug.com/Nature/Seeing-Stars/i-nLFdZKq/A

#Astrophotography #ThirtyMillimetreTelescope #TMMT #Seestar #SeestarS30Pro #Siril #SyQon #GraXpert #VeraLux

Do you enjoy trueing bicycle wheels? Replacing spokes? Rebuilding wheels with new rims? Good news! Soon you'll be able to attach an old fashioned wheel bender rack to the back of your car so your bicycle wheels will constantly be in need of repair!

https://www.singletracks.com/mtb-gear/the-rut-rack-is-a-hitch-rack-for-hauling-bikes-with-zero-straps-or-moving-parts/

#Cycling #BikeTooter

@Cookies @ainmosni @aral The "shocked face" thumbnails aren't there to appeal to humans, they are there to appease The Algorithm.

YouTube algorithm really likes them, apparently, and anyone who's trying to make a living out of YouTube has no choice but to do what the algorithm likes. Organic reach is almost non-existent, it's all about pushing the algorithm's buttons in order to get it to suggest your videos to users.

I've heard content creators apologise for the shocked face thumbnails, saying that they hate doing them but they feel obliged to because of the difference they make to the reach of their videos.

If you have a 3D printer that you're not using (or, better yet, several of them) and you're looking for a project, here's an Extremely Large one for you: a printable 3D model of @esoastronomy's Extremely Large Telescope, https://www.eso.org/public/products/models3d/ELT-3D-Print-model/

There are a *lot* of parts, many of which are small and intricately detailed. It would be a time consuming challenge to print and assemble, but it must be possible because there are photos of the resulting model bundled with the STEP file.

#3Dprinting #Astronomy #Astrodon #ELT #ESO_ELT #Telescope

If you're more into Lego than 3D printing @esoastronomy still has you covered. There are parts lists and assembly instructions for Lego models of both the Extremely Large Telescope and the Very Large Telescope, https://www.eso.org/public/australia/announcements/ann16013/?lang

#Lego #Astrodon #Astronomy #ELT #ESO #VLT #Telescope

Many years ago I went to a public speaking training day and one of the trainer's tips was that if you struggle to know what to do with your hands while standing up to speak then try holding something. They suggested a nice, weighty pen would be a good choice.

Based on photos of a presentation practice just posted to our work Slack at least some of my colleagues have decided to use a lightsaber instead. That is clearly a thousand times better.

RE: https://ohai.social/@GreenSkyOverMe/116402223146729822

It's like the Japanese "Doctor Yellow" Shinkansen, but an HST!

I lived in the UK for the first 27 years of my life yet I'd never heard of these until today.

*zooming noises*

Today we are checking out the electronics, hobby & anime merch stores in Akihabara and I decided to get a model of the shinkansen that we'll be taking to Osaka tomorrow.

This is a static display model of the lead car, *not* the beginning of an N gauge layout.

And now I'm on board the real thing: the Tokaido Shinkansen from Tokyo to Osaka. 515 km in 2 hours 30 minutes. It's so good.

#Shinkansen #Train #TrainsOfMastodon

Pointy.

Mt Fuji from the train.

I do not have a model Shinkansen problem. I can stop buying them any time I like. I just needed one more so that I can have one at home and one on my desk at work. Plus I now have the complete set of Shinkansen types currently operating on the Tokaido line. There's no need for any more.

Latent train nerd senses tingling. Kyoto has a railway museum, and it sells Shinkansen lunch boxes!

Question is though, 700 Series Doctor Yellow or 0 Series? 🤔

https://www.kyotorailwaymuseum.jp/en/

It's been 4 day since I last bought a model Shinkansen and I'm getting itchy...

Meanwhile my tour of Japan continues to be powered by sake and melonpan.

Oops, how did that happen? Now there are three of them.

I now have both types of Shinkansen that currently operate on the Tokaido line, plus the very first.

Tomorrow we are going to the Kyoto Railway Museum and the kid and I have tickets to drive the Shinkansen simulators.

https://www.kyotorailwaymuseum.jp/en/tickets/#ticket2