iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Dale Ghent @daleghent.com · 31/12/2025

My awesome wife definitely had my number when it came to Christmas gifts this year.

Dale Ghent @daleghent.com · 11/09/2025

I got a #Bosch Flexidome Starlight 7000 VR security cam from eBay for ~$200 and sent it to HCRO to view my 🔭. Much better image quality than the Wyze OG. I developed a python script to build a timelapse movie from 1hr before sunset to 1hr after sunrise, getting images via RTSP. Works very well! 🔭😶‍🌫️

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Dale Ghent @daleghent.com · 24/05/2025

Went strawberry picking today and uncovered a nest of baby 🐣 in one of the bushes. Hope the parents can get back to feed them with all of the people milling about

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Dale Ghent @daleghent.com · 17/05/2025

Pulled an all-nighter on TOI-1416 for the upcoming NASA Pandora mission. Whoa! What was that thing due north at the 01:26 timestamp? The time in the vid is US/Eastern despite the cam being in New Mexico. Wyze cams haven’t yet figured out time zones, so local time is -2 hours from what it says. 🔭 🪐

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Dale Ghent @daleghent.com · 11/05/2025

The night is now dominated by the moon. Imaged the transits of #exoplanets KSP-1 b and WASP-103 b last night. 🔭

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Dale Ghent @daleghent.com · 09/05/2025

It's always evolving, but the process of getting my #astrophotography data off my remote 🔭 and into mine and others' hands for processing and use can be complicated. Here is how I currently have things set up, in the form of a block diagram. I send to Gdrive first bc it acts as a convenient buffer.

A block diagram that shows how image and telemetry data flows from my remote telescope in New Mexico to my home data center via Starlink, Google's infrastructure, and my Verizon FiOS line in Maryland. My colocated server is a supporting cast member.

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Dale Ghent @daleghent.com · 06/05/2025

NGC 6505, an elliptical galaxy 608mly distant in Draco that acts as a gravity lens for another galaxy behind it from our viewpoint, creating an Einstein Ring effect. It seems I need much higher magnification and more than 4 hours of data to see the lensing, but it does make for a nice field. 🔭

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Dale Ghent @daleghent.com · 06/05/2025

M106, at 18 total hours of integration spread across Sloan g', r', i' and luminance. The H-alpha in the nebulae falls within the r' filter's bandpass, which is mapped to the green channel. Thus they show up as teal instead of the more usual red. It has a nice aesthetic, I think. Deets in alt-txt. 🔭

Galaxy Messier 106 (M 106). 18 Hours of total integration from a PlaneWave Instruments CDK14 and QHY600M camera at Howling Coyote Remote Observatories near Pie Town, NM.

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Dale Ghent @daleghent.com · 29/04/2025

Last night's M 87 data, and its plasma jet is plainly visible! 4.7 total hours split between Sloan g', r', i' and Luminance on a CDK14+QHY600 at Howling Coyote Remote Observatories 🔭

Elliptical galaxy M 87 with a plasma jet emanating from its core.

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Dale Ghent @daleghent.com · 28/04/2025

A display of relativity is queued up for imaging tonight. M87 to try capture its relativistic jet, and NGC 6505 to see if I can at all discern the recently-discovered gravitational lens effect around the core. 🔭

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Dale Ghent @daleghent.com · 23/04/2025

M3. This is 42 total hours of Sloan g', r', and i' data in ~equal parts. I'm collecting the data for a study of RR Lyrae variables and decided to put it all into a pretty picture in addition to the photometry work. PixInsight skills are rusty, so Ron Brecher (Masters of PixInsight) walked me thru 🔭

Globular cluster M3 captured through Sloan g', r', and i' filters on a PlaneWave Instruments CDK14 and QHY600M camera at Howling Coyote Remote Observatories, New Mexico. 42 hours total integration time.

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Dale Ghent @daleghent.com · 22/04/2025

M106 (and friends) 🔭project starts.

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Dale Ghent @daleghent.com · 31/03/2025

I recently got a ToupTek ATR585M and wanted to see how linear it is in its different readout modes, so I made a #astropy and #matplotlib script. Point this at a directory of images and it'll burp out a linear regression plot in PNG form to show you, with residuals noted. github.com/daleghent/im... 🔭

Linear regression of ToupTek ATR585M in Low Conversion Gain mode. R-squared of 0.999982

Linear regression of ToupTek ATR585M in High Conversion Gain mode. R-squared of 0.999997

Linear regression of ToupTek ATR585M in High Dynamic Range mode. R-squared of 0.999938

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Dale Ghent @daleghent.com · 24/02/2025

A bunch of galaxies photobombed my observation of #exoplanet TOI-3919b's transit last night! Hello to NGC 5390, UGC 8841, and NGC 5358 & friends in Canes Venatici. Sloan g' at 300s exposure duration. #astronomy

Photograph centered on host star of TOI-3919b with AGN galaxy NGC 5390 close by. Nearby galaxies such as UGC 8841 and NGC 5358 are also visible.

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Dale Ghent @daleghent.com · 15/02/2025

I’m not religious but I appreciate the humanity and kindness it can offer and remind one of. Visited the lights at the DC National Cathedral tonight. The setting and ambiance was a welcome rinsing of the mind and heart after an awful week witnessing some of the worst.

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Dale Ghent @daleghent.com · 05/02/2025

More Alcor & ASCOM/Alpaca tinkering. I've integrated my Cyclope API module into Dark Dragons' Alpaca server framework. This makes the star FWHM seeing metric available to astro-imaging apps over a standard API, allowing it to be recorded & used programmatically during imaging operations. #astronomy

A screenshot of NINA and a unix terminal window that demonstrates the retrieval of star FWHM metrics from the Alcor Cyclope seeing monitor via an ASCOM/Alpaca Observing Conditions service.

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Dale Ghent @daleghent.com · 16/01/2025

It’s snowing and going to turn wicked cold soon. I was grabbing a quick cup of tea before calling into a meeting and noticed some Eastern Bluebirds congregating at the empty mealworm feeder, so I tossed them a handful onto the deck. Happy birds.

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Dale Ghent @daleghent.com · 12/12/2024

Weee current and point-in-time historical stats of imaging and observatory equipment metrics via #infuxdb and #grafana. I think I'll be able to release this plugin for #NINA soon with a sample dashboard. I'm sure someone who is better at Grafana could make some cool visualizations. #astrophography

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Dale Ghent @daleghent.com · 10/12/2024

After it sitting for over a year, I've resurrected my #InfluxDB Exporter plugin for #NINA. It's now fun to work on since I have a remote telescope to generate real data with. Image, guiding, and hardware stats. Autofocus and plate solve results probably soon. #graphs #astrophotography

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Dale Ghent @daleghent.com · 30/11/2024

Using electrical tape to cover up lights usually turns into a gooey mess after a hot summer. Trying out 3M VentureTape on my new telescope deployment to see how it performs with its acrylic adhesive. Supposed to work from -40C to +121C. It should be opaque into the NIR unlike electrical tape.

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Dale Ghent @daleghent.com · 23/11/2024

Flying with a QHY600M and 50mm X 9 filter wheel loaded with filters stuffed into my backpack. Assembled as they are bolted together. TSA didn’t bat an eye about it, thankfully. Wouldn’t trust this with the baggage handlers.

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Dale Ghent @daleghent.com · 22/11/2024

IMX533. Good sensor. I’m turning one into an all-sky camera.

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Dale Ghent @daleghent.com · 18/11/2024

Alright. I gotta say that automatic wire strippers are life-changing. Why did I keep putting off getting one?

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Dale Ghent @daleghent.com · 21/09/2024

Feeding a 9x50mm filter wheel with a mix of photometric and narrowband filters. This will end up on a CDK14 in New Mexico and in front of a QHY600M camera. Giving Baader a try for the photometrics but experience has me trusting Chroma for narrowband. All are 3mm thick glass.

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Dale Ghent @daleghent.com · 11/09/2024

Is a 107 year old telescope capable of making discoveries today? YES! Upcoming paper will describe the results of our eng. test run using the Mt. Wilson 100" Hooker telescope for speckle interferometry of dbl stars, and a path fwd for it to (re)gain a scientific and STEM mission. #astronomy #stem

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