iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Wire wool. You didn’t mention that, so it must be ok.

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Ah, well … this was taken with 5 minute exposures - a total of about 50, divided into three sets by using filters. Each set was then combined and assigned a colour (R, G, B) and the three images then combined to make a colour image. And then a lot of clever stuff to sharpen details and brighten it.

This is a ‘false colour’ image taken in Scotland a few years ago; when viewed through a telescope, the nebula is just shades of red. I often wonder: in a few decades, will astronomers look at it and ask: ‘What on earth is a Pac-Man?’

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The small, irregular black areas seen against the blue background are Bok objects, clouds of dust and gas that are collapsing to create new stars.

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The nebula is about 9.2kLY from us and about 50LY in diameter. It contains at least five large, powerful stars that will end their lives as supernovae.

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One of my favourite objects for #AstroMonday: the Pac-Man Nebula in Cassiopeia, one of many bright emission nebulae in that part of the sky.

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Dr Prit Buttar @dienekes.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

This man is so inspiring. I couldn’t talk about these subjects without ranting and raving.

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The Berne and Universal Copyright Conventions are meant to cover this, with UK and US recognising each other’s copyright. But although I have raised this with my publisher, nobody seems willing to enforce obligations.

Dr Prit Buttar @dienekes.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

There is actually a treaty that obliges the US to recognise UK copyright, but there seems there is no will to enforce it.

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Dr Prit Buttar @dienekes.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

My daughter’s mother in law has just done this. No significant problems.

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Dr Prit Buttar @dienekes.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

As usual, excellent discussion and analysis. And unquestionably the best ‘God, less America’. I was laughing so much on our morning walk that the puppies stopped to stare at me.

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‘Some of us are going to prison’ - he says it like it’s a bad thing.

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The outward pressure from these stars within the ‘head’ and the inward pressure from the left rim is compressing the gas and dust, triggering further star formation. Image taken in Scotland 4 years ago, about 14 hours of exposures. @ttladada.bsky.social

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The same star is irradiating the left edge of the dust cloud, creating the bright rim. At the same time, new stars within the ‘head’ have cleared a small bubble with their radiation.

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The nebula is about 2.4kLY away and is made up of dust obscuring a bright nebula. Behind the ‘head’ near its left edge is a powerful star whose radiation is responsible for ionising the region beyond the elephant trunk.

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Today for #AstroMonday, we have the Elephant Trunk Nebula in the constellation of Cepheus. The elephant bit is just the centre of a larger nebula, and one day I’ll try to make a mosaic of images to capture it all.

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Dr Prit Buttar @dienekes.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

‘Labour’s policy is that we’d like to have a better relationship with Europe, but it can only be on our terms. I have always said that their EU policy is akin to an overweight man claiming he wants to lose weight, but he’s already ruled out healthy eating and exercise’ Excellent summary.

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Well, what other criteria could you possibly use to determine historical knowledge?

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Dr Prit Buttar @dienekes.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

This dates from the Cameron-May era of creating an environment that they hoped would discourage migrants while appeasing the numerous (let’s be honest) racists in the electorate. Much easier to punch down on weaker people than address the growing wealth inequality that’s the true issue.

Dr Prit Buttar @dienekes.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Photos from a strenuous walk up to Madeira’s highest peak.

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Dr Prit Buttar @dienekes.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I don’t know whether to be disappointed by that qualification or not …

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Dr Prit Buttar @dienekes.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Having spent several afternoons reprocessing the same data to try to improve images, I both understand and approve!

Dr Prit Buttar @dienekes.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

After earlier books were translated into Polish, Lithuanian, Estonian, Finnish, Hungarian, Italian, and Chinese … now, a Turkish translation!

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Dr Prit Buttar @dienekes.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Something that debunks the clean Wehrmacht myth? That shows the degree of Wehrmacht involvement?

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Many emission nebulae are created by a star ionising gas left over from its creation, but others, like this, occur when a hot star moves through an unrelated gas cloud.

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The nebula is about 1.5kLY away and is thought to be about 5LY across. The energetic blue star in its corse is likely to have originated in the region of Orion’s Belt.

For #AstroMonday this week, I offer you the Flaming Star Nebula in Auriga. This is a mosaic of two images taken in 2022 in Scotland.

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I would very much like to quote some of this in our forthcoming book about Paris during the war, but only with your permission. Please contact me.

Dr Prit Buttar @dienekes.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

There will be a lot of people saying they were secretly working to prevent Trump destroying things. Most Nazis only started saying that after Hitler was dead.

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Balti = bucket in Hindi/Punjabi. Nope, me neither.

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Ah, but ‘red lines’. Appeasing racist voters in Labour heartlands takes priority.

future enquiry will then lament - as Thirlwall did - that recommendations from the past have not been implemented. So once again, we have an enquiry that draws valid conclusions; but the key problems will not be addressed, because they are fundamentally political rather than technical.

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will be hugely expensive. Children’s medical records have to be kept until they are 25 - the volume of data that will have to be warehoused is enormous. In all likelihood, this initiative will either be implemented piecemeal, or will be abandoned altogether once attention turns elsewhere, and a …

At a time when everything is suffering from a financial perma-crisis, how will this be funded? If previous ‘initiatives’ are any guide, the answer is that trusts will be required to find money for this from existing budgets, through further mythical ‘efficiency savings’. And make no mistake, this …

dysfunction? The answer is that it doesn't, but by embracing this very visual and easily understood measure, politicians can portray themselves as ‘doing something’ in response to the enquiry that will not change the existing management structures at all. Secondly, how will this be implemented?

politicians to have a ‘cut-out’, where responsibility cannot come back upwards. The headline from the Thirlwall enquiry is that CCTV recording will be introduced to prevent a recurrence. But few, if any, journalists have asked the important questions. Firstly, how does this address management …