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 · 27/12/2025

I sighted my remotely operated telescope in the light pollution refuges of Pie Town NM but the skies are under threat locally from indifferent neighbors. Can’t escape the scourge of light pollution in any form.

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Dale Ghent @daleghent.com · 18/09/2025

I've created @eros.daleghent.com for my remote telescope, EROS, to post automated content and statuses to. For now, it posts a nightly timelapse video each morning that ranges from 1 hour before sunset to 1 hour after sunrise. Eventually, I'll automate the posting of images and telemetry as well! 🔭

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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 · 04/08/2025

A few times per year. Permanent setup with remote Alpaca-controlled flat panel (Dark Dragons' DragonLIGHT). The best time to do them with my open-truss CDK14 is on nights where the shared RoR is not open due to weather.

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Reposted by Dale Ghent

John Morales @johnmoralestv.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

Cuts have consequences, illustrated. As seen on TV 📺

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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 · 19/05/2025

This is why boats sail best in fair weather, marked by the presence of coulombulous clouds in the sky.

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Dale Ghent @daleghent.com · 19/05/2025

*acts like the Gestapo, ignores due process and a bunch of other constitutional norms* "Stop comparing us to the Gestapo!" *does more of the above and tweets about it with gusto* "Stop comparing us to the Gestapo, it's mean and unfair!" *engages in intimidation of the judiciary*

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

Maybe could also be a STEVE? en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/STEVE

en.m.wikipedia.org

STEVE - Wikipedia

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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 · 16/05/2025

LMAO what? Springsteen looks 10x better than that walking piece of beef jerky, RFK Jr.

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Dale Ghent @daleghent.com · 14/05/2025

Definitely native and has a wide range with beautiful, colorful tunas as this critter has found. The large pads of this family are referred to as Nopals or Nopales in Spanish. They're often found in Mexican cuisine under the same name, grilled or stewed, and can be found fresh in grocery stores.

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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 · 08/05/2025

Then exercise the dark arts of extended regular expressions by doing a very targeted multi-line text replacement (vi/vim is my daily-driver editor, too. I have a hard time in anything else, even GUI editors.)

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Dale Ghent @daleghent.com · 07/05/2025

I was mailed a package from Pie Town NM 1.5 weeks ago and it missed the expected delivery date. The sender looked up its USPS tracking # to find that it has been endlessly ping ponging between Pie Town and Albuquerque. It's currently on its third pong. They are trying to reach a postmaster 🤷‍♂️

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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 · 05/05/2025

It's Square Root Day today (5/5/25)! The next Square Root Day will be 6/6/36.

en.wikipedia.org

Square Root Day - Wikipedia

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

Since PixInsight 1.9.3 requires master calibration images in XISF format, to the exclusion of FITS, I must now calibrate all of my light images outside of PI so that I can continue to use my FITS masters. I've created a suite of #astropy & #ccdproc based scripts for this github.com/daleghent/im... 🔭

github.com

GitHub - daleghent/image-tools: Collection of AstroPy-based programs used in my image processing

Collection of AstroPy-based programs used in my image processing - daleghent/image-tools

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

Well, the sustainability outlook must not be great if they're still stuck with CRT monitors :colbert:

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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 · 29/04/2025

Loving a clear spring evening with the windows open and a nearby barred owl calling over the quieting din of the day. Working on last night's data & some code while some tech/deep-house choons have their way with my subwoofer. A relaxing focus & unclenched jaw. open.spotify.com/playlist/37i...

open.spotify.com

Daily Mix 4

Playlist · Spotify · 50 items

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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 · 27/04/2025

Nice, a DFM RC (or Cassegrain?). Do you know if they have the newer Galil control system on that?

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Dale Ghent @daleghent.com · 27/04/2025

The latest nightly builds of NINA now insert MJD-OBS and MJD-AVG keywords into the header of FITS files it generates. These are the modified Julian date version of the existing ISO8601-formatted DATE-OBS and DATE-AVG keywords. 🔭

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Dale Ghent @daleghent.com · 26/04/2025

Because the posts stray into the hard politics about it. It’s hard to tell after the fact as those posts get removed. The locked threads actually look ok and you wouldn’t know that those posts were there if it weren’t for the reminders from the moderators every page or so of the thread.

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Dale Ghent @daleghent.com · 26/04/2025

The entire foundation of these tariffs is a political and policy construct. Avoiding mention of that leaves one with just the obvious-to-anyone mechanical effects, which makes any discourse concerning them a pointless and vapid pursuit. Yes prices are up. For how long? No one knows. Etc.

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Dale Ghent @daleghent.com · 26/04/2025

A few threads have gotten the 🔒over tariff discussion and CN now has a notice pinned on the forum about engaging in the topic. Apparently quite a few posts had to be deleted. Pretty funny.

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Dale Ghent @daleghent.com · 26/04/2025

It certainly is the 🐘 in the room in US-based amateur astronomy forums. Perhaps like most hobbies there is a large segment of conservative ppl in amateur astronomy and ✨🪐📷. Threads on tariffs now get shut down on forums such as CN & I’ve noticed an uptick of ppl posting want ads for used gear.

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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

I believe that Optolong are the OEM for the minicam8's filter sets.

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

The app that is operating my remote telescope and coordinating the imaging is a FOSS app named NINA. The telescope is a PlaneWave CDK14 it have at a remote location in New Mexico (I am in Maryland). Info here: daleghent.com/observatory

daleghent.com

Elemental Remote Observatory System (EROS1) » Dale Ghent

The Elemental Remote Observatory System was commissioned on November 28, 2024 at Howling Coyote Remote Observatories, near Pie Town, New Mexico. It is the culmination of a goal set in 2015 to design a...

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

M106 (and friends) 🔭project starts.

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Dale Ghent @daleghent.com · 20/04/2025

Yeah a keyboard that fits is underrated. I've had to spend a bunch of $ to figure out what's best for my finger arthritis. Finding a non-clacky keyboard with gaming-tier features such as anti-ghosting is not easy. Eventually settled on the Corsair K100 Air. It's lo-profile chicklets for me it seems.

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Dale Ghent @daleghent.com · 18/04/2025

Looking good! Please share the final work!

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Dale Ghent @daleghent.com · 18/04/2025

Great! Let’s see an example!

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Dale Ghent @daleghent.com · 17/04/2025

Go here and hit Accessories: www.touptek-astro.com/Firmware/ Mouse over the red warning symbol for the description to see if your wheel logic board is affected. <insert complaint about bad web design>

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Dale Ghent @daleghent.com · 17/04/2025

There is a bug in the firmware of the filter wheel that keeps the wheel's internal IR LED on when moving to a filter position beyond the first one (IIRC). The end effect is you get a glow in the frame. It's a known issue that has been discussed on CN. ToupTek has a firmware update that fixes this.

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Dale Ghent @daleghent.com · 15/04/2025

You won't find flour tortillas in most of Mexico and you won't find fajitas at all outside of touristy areas. Dishes such as Mole, Menudo, and Tamales are unknown in most Texmex joints. Ordering a molcajete will get a laugh at most. To say that Texmex represents Mexican cuisine seems kinda 🙄

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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 · 13/03/2025

Ok ok, this is starting to converge on looking like Gritty. Not so sure how to feel about that.

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Dale Ghent @daleghent.com · 12/03/2025

So how long until the IAU creates a "dwarf moon" class and demotes most of Saturn's moons to it, a la Pluto?

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