Love* to wake up to mysterious acrid fumes in the kitchen/living/dining room. Nothing is obviously on fire, nothing electrical has suddenly stopped working as far as I can tell, and nothing that makes heat has been accidentally left on.

One final comment while I'm AAT-posting, this is the same telescope that I posted about last week because of the upcoming workshop to discuss its future. I've been working on an idea for a new camera for it. #astronomy #Astrodon #telescope #angloaustraliantelescope #aat […]

Incidentally, if you'd like to see the Anglo-Australian Telescope yourself in person, your best bet (short of becoming a professional astronomer and applying for telescope time on it) is to go along to StarFest over the October long weekend. Part of that is the annual Siding Spring Observatory […]

Because I just found it on an old USB stick I offer to you this 20 year old 320x240@15fps "video" of the Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT) having a stretch. This is the result of running a script in the telescope control software called "Cook's Tour". The original […] [Original post on aus.social]

I am getting sick of this conflating of every case of "computer use algorithm" into the single gelid blob of "AI" making it impossible to have a productive conversation on the subject When people say they're "against AI", they usually mean certain specific things. "Image generators displacing […]

Oh no. My package has become trapped in the Sunshine West space-time discontinuity, doomed to be perpetually in transit to next facility without ever actually leaving. :pakidge:

Oh HEY, tech frens. One of my clients just showed up, bought me lunch, and asked "I know you offer pre-paid discount consulting; it's the last day of the financial year, I want to know, can I buy a chunk of hours now to use next year, I have budget left over and I need to spend it today". I of […]

Because I just found it on an old USB stick I offer to you this 20 year old 320x240@15fps "video" of the Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT) having a stretch. This is the result of running a script in the telescope control software called "Cook's Tour". The original […] [Original post on aus.social]

Hmmm, feels like it's been going down quicker than that. Plot from the Australian Academy of Science's "Restore Science" campaign, asking people to write to the MPs and Senators saying they want to see the decades long decline in Australian science funding to be […] [Original post on aus.social]

Oh, good idea Scribus, yes, the last two rows of the second column of this table should definitely line wrap after 4 characters for no reason whatsoever. That's not infuriating at all. #scribus #madewithscribus

Seems odd to see a duck perching off the ground, but apparently Australian Wood Ducks are "perching ducks" and do it on the regular. She did seem a bit unsure as to what she was doing up there though, as was her partner on the ground nearby.

Hmmm, feels like it's been going down quicker than that. Plot from the Australian Academy of Science's "Restore Science" campaign, asking people to write to the MPs and Senators saying they want to see the decades long decline in Australian science funding to be […] [Original post on aus.social]

Could it be? Not just one clear night this week, but two? I better come up with some plans for my telescope.

I was serenaded by the soothing song of the campus cockatoos when arriving at work this morning.

Damn. Going to have to make my own hot drinks, like some sort of animal.

Gold at the end of the rainbow this afternoon at the archery range 🪎🌈 #archery #stabbingatadistance #rainbow

I decided to make this the first 3D printable design of mine that I've shared anywhere. I've put the .3mf model file on Printables, along with the FreeCAD .fcstd file to make it easier for people to adjust the dimensions to fit their own power banks and tripods. It could be handy for any power […]

Second attempt at the tripod power bank holder and I'm going to call that job done! My 20000 mAh power bank fits in the pocket like a glove, and the revised clip design goes around the tripod leg (without breaking this time) and attaches solidly. The clip could […] [Original post on aus.social]

With little chance of any clear night skies in Sydney for at least the next week I've resorted to having a go at processing some previously taken data that I didn't have much hopes for. The is the Helix Nebula, NGC 7293. While it's big as far as planetary nebulae […] [Original post on aus.social]

With little chance of any clear night skies in Sydney for at least the next week I've resorted to having a go at processing some previously taken data that I didn't have much hopes for. The is the Helix Nebula, NGC 7293. While it's big as far as planetary nebulae […] [Original post on aus.social]

I've had to accept that the kid and I have accreted too much archery gear for it to all fit into one archery backpack. A second bag has now been acquired and the kid's gear has been transferred. This should save my back a bit of strain, and means we won't have to […] [Original post on aus.social]

I'm melting plastic again.

Any astronomers looking for a wild new job? I got a message from an ecologist in Belgium today, and he's looking for a postdoc with experience in photometry to work on analysis of all-sky imagery for an experiment on the impact of #lightpollution on birds. This is not a job offer! He would […]

The local ringtail possums were out showing off their tightrope walking skills again.

Well that's new. Went to catch a train and found the entire station is closed. Went to transportnsw.info and eventually found the notification, buried deep among all the mundane travel alerts about upcoming trackwork, etc., that they've closed the whole line […] [Original post on aus.social]

All those images are done processing now so here's the result from last night: the Lobster and Cat's Paw Nebulae. Just under 8 1/4 hours of total exposure time with the Seestar S30 Pro from suburban Sydney. Bortle 7 skies + some moonlight, light pollution filter […] [Original post on aus.social]

Hmmm, I've had the TMMT (Seestar S30 Pro) for 2 1/2 weeks and in that time it's produced just over 100GB of raw data. If that continues it'll be about 1TB of new data every 6 months. Meanwhile the processed data folder is growing over 6 times as fast, however […] [Original post on aus.social]

This has been the soundtrack to my day, playing in a browser tab in the background. The interval between pipe drops is just long enough for me to forget that it's there and get surprised all over again when it happens. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObKFZEeBcGQ

The Strait of Warm Ooze has made it to Google Maps

Hmmm, I've had the TMMT (Seestar S30 Pro) for 2 1/2 weeks and in that time it's produced just over 100GB of raw data. If that continues it'll be about 1TB of new data every 6 months. Meanwhile the processed data folder is growing over 6 times as fast, however […] [Original post on aus.social]

Of course where most of that money should be going is securing access to large overseases telescopes to replace as much as we can of what we would have got with ESO membership. The Large Telescope Access Working Group has suggestions for that, but also mentions […] [Original post on aus.social]

Also relevant is the recent government decision that Australia will not become a member of @esoastronomy Rumour has it that the reasoning behind that decision included (a) an aversion to sending money overseas and (b) a particular fondness for the Anglo-Australian Observatory on the part of […]

This is likely to be an interesting workshop: a gathering of the Australian astronomical community to discuss the future of the Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT), the largest optical telescope for astronomical research in Australia. For context the AAT is currently operated by the ANU on a […]

This is likely to be an interesting workshop: a gathering of the Australian astronomical community to discuss the future of the Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT), the largest optical telescope for astronomical research in Australia. For context the AAT is currently operated by the ANU on a […]

Based on a suggestion from @knud here's the Mark III smart telescope lens hood for Seestar S30 Pro. This version has an angled first baffle, and now has a total of 5 instead of 4. From the sky side you can see light scattering back from the internal surfaces but […] [Original post on aus.social]

OK, I've now printed off Mark II rev. 2 of my 3D printing lens hood design for my Seestar S30 Pro smart telescope, and I'm now pretty happy with it. The point of this is to prevent stray light from ground level lights from getting into the lens. It's not well […] [Original post on aus.social]

The Swamp Hens at the archery range today did not have a strong sense of self-preservation! #archery

And here is the end result: The Fighting Dragons of Ara. This was definitely undercooked with just the images I took on the 12th June, but with the addition of lots more data from last night I'm happy with this now. In the end I had a total of 998 30 second […] [Original post on aus.social]

The Swamp Hens at the archery range today did not have a strong sense of self-preservation! #archery

Given all the lights that shine onto my telescope when it's in my back yard I decided to make a lens hood for it to keep stray light out of the lens. I'm considering this the Mark I prototype. It's a super simple conical design with a single baffle at the […] [Original post on aus.social]

The ATSB continue to knock out quality accident investigation summary videos. Their latest is the collision between two freight trains at Oonoomurra. Trains *and* accident investigation? This is very Mastodon content. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTrzXV_M_vU

Feeling very grateful for good libraries at the moment. The kid has been absolutely devouring manga books lately, and fortunately both the local public library and his school's library are well stocked. This is their to-read pile of Naruto from the public library […] [Original post on aus.social]

Oops.

The ATSB continue to knock out quality accident investigation summary videos. Their latest is the collision between two freight trains at Oonoomurra. Trains *and* accident investigation? This is very Mastodon content. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTrzXV_M_vU

I have reached the "desperately punching a Leviathan Reaper in the face with a robot arm" stage of playing Subnautica.

Not a bad looking piece of paper. It's printed on some nice cardstock and has a gloss transparent watermark thing.

Not a bad looking piece of paper. It's printed on some nice cardstock and has a gloss transparent watermark thing.

Agentic AI: very serious product, totally production grade, enterprise ready, and worth trillions of dollars. Also might download git repos one file at a time via HTTP, enter an infinite recursion of subagent spawning when it hits a permission problem, and […] [Original post on aus.social]

Bortle is a fun word to say. Bortle. I was just using https://lightpollutionmap.info to quantify exactly how light polluted the skies where I live are, and apparently they are Bortle 7, "suburban/urban transition". #astrophotography #astronomy

Leave your colony cuticular hydrocarbons at the door. The Hairy Gaster is a place where a working ant can relax after a hard shift and have a nice cool glass of nectar and a good laugh with the girls. Come once, come twice and soon you'll be a regular too. Don't miss "free thrips Thursday" or […]