Moth and Ti using the wheel. #cats #catwheel

Cat nap! #cats

Just took this pic. Heard some strange noises outside, so I thought I would investigate. I sometimes walk in the backyard at night without a light, eg to get to the dome. Probably shouldn't do that. #python #snake

Here's some birthday cats. 8 years old today. Special treat for each of them. #cats #birthday

Titania just after being woken up. #cats

This week's tragedy: dishwasher died. Although it didn't have the decency to emphatically die, but to limp on a bit giving false hope that I might have been able to fix it. And thereby waste hours trying to do so. In positive news, the new dishwasher arrives Monday and the old one will be recycled.

We had a storm this afternoon and when I went outside after I saw this little guy on the door. Nothing to give scale in the pic but I think he was maybe 5 cm long, maybe less? #frogs

The crew followed me to the patio after their 6 hour power naps... #cats

Had to mediate here as the top part of the cat pram is prime position and Moth was already there. So Ti chose to stand on top of it in protest. Of course Moth tried to bite her. After things settled a bit, I managed to get this shot. #cats

Not a glamorous shot, but poor Ti has done something to her tail. Vet at first thought it was an abscess, but no bite marks. It's likely to be bruising, as she has a great habit of rearranging boxes, etc - we think one fell on her tail. Got some medicine to help and it's starting to look better.

Blurry, but I got Moth mid action. #cats #catsofbluesky

A sleeping Titania in the cat bed next to my chair. #cats #catsofbluesky

Someone got a bit self conscious when the camera came out. I was trying to get a photo or video of him cleaning his face. Moth wins this round. #cats #catsofbluesky

NGC6888, Crescent Nebula. This is just one night's data. I intend adding a lot more over time. It's only RGB for now, but I intend doing a mix with Ha and OIII to bring out the nebula more. Will need to add to it next year. @kat-astro-bot.bsky.social #astrophotography

Titania close up. Could not get the camera further away as she was sitting on my chest. #cats

Today's entertainment was a snake in the house. I got alerted to it with Ti (one of our cats) scrabbling around trying to get to it within the bookcases. I only saw the tail of it before it went for cover. Much action followed as we wondered what the snake was and if it was dangerous. 1/...

Moth and Ti taking a brief timeout during cat parkour time, i.e. when I'm trying to have a nap. #cats #caturday

If you're an Australian citizen, I'd encourage you to sign this petition: www.aph.gov.au/e-petitions/... It's for the "National Legislation for Light Pollution Regulation and Dark Sky Preservation". One reason to do this is to help astronomers and astrophotographers. #astronomy #astrophotography

Who's that in the red glow? #cats

Earthquake here about an hour ago. Minor shaking. The way some of the trees moved was interesting like a repeated shudder. Got the alert moments before I felt/saw things. In the time in took for me to register what was happening, it was over. A 5.2 magnitude centered between Goomeri and Kilkivan.

Antennae Galaxies NGC 4038. This is a reprocess of data I got in 2024. It's one of the images that will be going into my club's 2026 Calendar. #astrophotography @kat-astro-bot.bsky.social

‘Self-termination is most likely’: the history and future of societal collapse

Another day in Australia: Shower, get out, towel down, look in the mirror and see a huntsman on your body, give a startled cry and "fucking spiders", brush it off and continue...

Older data from 2021, the M8 nebula image has been processed using the HOS palette (Red=Ha, Green=OIII and Blue=SII). I had to remove the stars as they looked quite horrendous in the image, and unfortunately I do not have appropriate RGB data to replace them, so it's starless only. #astrophotography

NGC 6188, Rim Nebula aka Fighting Dragons of Ara, in SHO (Hubble) palette, with RGB stars. Resized to 10% of the original. About 20 hours of data, taken from the dome in my backyard. #astrophotography @kat-astro-bot.bsky.social

And the place itself is lit up like a Christmas tree. Even worse light pollution shown within the article. Sigh.

Titania and Moth in the sunlight this morning. As I write this post, the pester power is being applied for treats to be given 40 minutes early. #cats #caturday

NGC6188, Rim Nebula in Starless HSS - Ha mapped to Red, SII mapped to Green and Blue. Taken from my backyard dome over the last 3 nights. I recently saw this mapping done while I was searching Astrobin, so I thought I would give it a go. #astrophotography #astronomy

Ah, 57 steps in the pre-processing batch script for my data. That might take awhile. Time for a coffee! #astrophotography

Three Moons Silo Mural. Near Monto, Qld. More details and pics in thread.

Castle Mountain at Cania Gorge National Park.

A process of last night's data. 6 hours of OIII on NGC 6188. Each exposure was 20 mins. Weather forecast is for couple clear hours early tonight, might start on the SII data. May get lucky and the clouds stay away long enough for another 6 hours of data. #astrophotography @kat-astro-bot.bsky.social

Something very strange is happening - it's a clear night and a new moon. It's seems a rare event here. Out in the dome collecting some data. Weather forecast suggests this might be a single night only, so I'll grab what I can for my long term project. #astrophotography

Winter time and the cats are on the bed with me. Makes having a nap a bit more difficult, but that's the way things be. #cats #blueskycats #napdisruptors

Anyone with deep pockets that could give me a heap of money for a new scope that I want that is a luxury item and something I don't really need? :) I've been on the list for getting an Astro-Physics 110mm f6 StarFire GTX (110GTX) for years and my name just came up. Alas, no funds now, so no go.

One of the best inventions ever is Bacon mode in cars. Perfect for colder weather. In case you're not enlightened about such wizardy, Bacon mode is the seat warmer, often shown as 3 strips of (sizzling) bacon on the control panel.

Any Vampire Survivor players? Got my best run so far tonight.

Kinbombi Falls. We've had recent rain, and while there was more water flowing than the last time we were there, it's still a trickle. Looks like it needs lots more rain to make it more raging.

Got my core set copy of Daggerheart today and I am starting to read it now. While I have some idea of what it's about I deliberately avoided the beta so I only have to learn the rules once. 🙂 #daggerheart #ttrpg

The curse of living in a mountainous area. Going downhill is great for an EV, but as expected going uphill kills the range.

Titania and Moth voluntarily go into their carriers whether they need to or not. This is actually hours after we got back from the vet for their check up and vaccination. I hadn't got to put the carriers away yet, so they're still fair game for the cats. #cats

Titania in her vest for walks outside. This was during the training phase. Both cats were not that impressed with it. #cats #caturday

Moth on top of the cupboard, ready to swipe at anything nearby. #cats #caturday

Crimson Rosella enjoying some seeds. #auswildlife #ausbirds #birds

The Liberal party has a big problem. No matter who they elect as leader, they're still going to be a Liberal and have to deal with the other Liberals. Not sure which circle of hell that is, but so tragic. #auspol

We got an unexpected grid outage earlier this morning (about 4 hours now). It's a sunny day, so no idea why. The battery kicked in and the solar is helping and also recharging the battery. Had about 22% left in the battery when it started, now at 68%. Looks like renewables keep the lights on. :)

Pencil Nebula, with RGB stars mixed in. I like replacing the stars in narrowband images if I can do so as I think it improves the image. Previous version with narrowband stars: bsky.app/profile/lazj... so you can compare against this RGB stars version. #astrophotography @kat-astro-bot.bsky.social

A pair of stretch cats. #cats

Pencil Nebula. Data from April 2025. This is a HOO mix of 4h 20 min of Ha data and 7h of OIII data. For this version, the stars are from the Ha + OIII data. I have to process some RGB stars in the next version. #astrophotography @kat-astro-bot.bsky.social

It's been a while, so enjoy the kittens on the wheel again. #cats