iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Mike McNerney @mikemcnerney.bsky.social · 26/08/2025

Milky Way at zenith between Vega and Andromeda. Single untracked 18.5 second frame, 18mm f/2.8 taken with a full-spectrum modified Canon T4i from Wildcat Mountain State Park in Wisconsin. #milkyway #nightphotography #darksky #astro #photography #canon #astronomy #night #wisconsin

Milky Way diagonally from lower left to upper right is a greyish brushstroke of stars and pink nebula. Above the Milky Way is the bright star Vega and below the Milky Way is the galaxy Andromeda, which appear as a bright spot with light fading from the center to both the left and right.

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Mike McNerney @mikemcnerney.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

Haven't posted in a while, so here's the Western Veil Nebula. 68 stacked images at 180 seconds each taken with ZWO ASI2600MC Pro camera, Optolong L-Ultimate filter, Orion 6" Ritchey-Chretien telescope on Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro mount, captured in ASIAIR Plus, processed in Pixinsight and GIMP.

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Mike McNerney @mikemcnerney.bsky.social · 19/05/2025

I loaded your coordinates and time/date into SkySafari Pro and pointed at zenith to get this screenshot. It may not be the correct orientation or focal length, but looking straight up, this is what would have been there.

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Mike McNerney @mikemcnerney.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

#pictureoftheday IC443 - The Jellyfish Nebula is a supernova remnant in the constellation Gemini, about 5,000 lightyears from Earth. 36 frames x 180 seconds plus calibration frames. Processed in Pixinsight. #photography #photo #astrophotography #night #sky #stars #pink #nebula #outerspace #space

On the black background of outer space, a modeled pink nebulous cloud fills much of the center of the frame. Beginning about a quarter of the way from the left edge, a globular nebula with streamers of gaseous clouds is centered on the lower left "third" mark of the frame. To the right of that, expanding and extending upward to near the top of the frame and to the right to about a third of the way from the edge of frame, a more whispy, lighter nebulous cloud with darker pink edges and areas of very dark, making it look like a person with a headlamp on looking at the globular "jellyfish" nebula. The entire image is covered in white, yellow, red, and blue stars ranging in size from very small to medium. One larger medium star makes the "light" of the headlamp, and another larger medium star is just off the lower right of the jellyfish.

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Mike McNerney @mikemcnerney.bsky.social · 09/04/2025

#pictureoftheday NGC4565 - The Needle Galaxy (no, not the same as The Silver Needle Galaxy that I posted last week). #photography #photo #astrophotography #night #sky #nightsky #stars #galaxy #space #outerspace

On the black background of outer space, medium and small white, yellow, and orange stars cover the entire canvas, with a galaxy viewed on edge running diagonally from upper left to lower right in the middle 1/3 of the frame. The galaxy is dimmer on both ends, brightening to the core in the middle, making the visible flat side of the galaxy appear to look like a needle. The galaxy is mostly light gold tone, with an orange and brown mottled band of dust and nebulosity running the entire length. The center core appears as a bright fuzzy near-circular ball.

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Mike McNerney @mikemcnerney.bsky.social · 29/03/2025

Picture of the day. The Silver Needle Galaxy, about 13 mil ly away. Taken earlier this week from my backyard in California, this image stacks 116 subs x 180 seconds through a 6" Ritchey-Chretien telescope. #photography #photo #astrophotography, #astronomy #galaxy #space #nightsky #night #sky #stars

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Mike McNerney @mikemcnerney.bsky.social · 21/03/2025

#pictureoftheday. #spring! Throwback to the #california #superbloom. These were taken near Soda Lake and the Carrizo Plain #nationalmonument. In the image with my wife walking down the path, the white ridge is the San Andreas fault. #photography #photo #flowers #yellow #nature @altnps.bsky.social

Green grass covered hill in the foreground, beginning at the middle left edge of the picture, extending to the bottom right corner. Behind that a yellow, green, and orange hill covered in poppies and other wildflowers - that hill extends from the upper third right edge of frame, down to meet and go behind the green hill near center left, about a quarter of the way down the green hill. Beyond that hill is the distant valley ranging in color from tan to blue, with the hazy blue sky above.

This is a square image, taken with a film camera, so it's a little grainy if you zoom in. The image is a field of yellow wild flowers with occasional patches of green weeds covering the lower two-thirds of the frame, with a dirt path extending from center left edge of frame to center upper third of frame and the end of the field of flowers. There is also an area in the near foreground at the bottom of the frame, where the flowers and weeds are less compacted and the sandy ground beneath is exposed. Walking along the dirt path away from camera is a woman in white sneakers, black pants, a white smock-type tops with large prints of flowers on it, and a black bucket-style hat. At the upper third of frame, where the flower field ends, is a narrow blueish-gray strip of lake running left to right across the entire frame. On the other side of the lake is an off-white sand and rock ridge running the length of the photo from left to right, with occasional yellow flower patches. This ridge is the San Andreas fault. Above the fault ridge is a row of darker green and yellow mountains, then a mostly cloudy sky with the clouds being higher level streaks rather than puffy ones. A small patch of blue sky emerges from the clouds just at the right edge, extending about a quarter of the way into the frame to the left.

In the foreground, a horizontal row of orange flowers runs across the entire bottom of the frame, extending about an eighth of the way up from the bottom. Above the orange flowers is a horizontal band of yellow wild flowers, followed by a band of green and gray weeds, followed by a rolling carpet of yellow flowers, occasionally broken by green weeds, all extending up to the center of the frame. Above that rises a green, yellow and tan mountain, with areas of white sand/rock ridges which identify where the San Andreas fault is. Above the mountain, at about the upper third frame line, are some grayish-white puffy clouds with blue sky above them.

A dirt road extends from near the center of the frame forward to the lower right corner of the frame, with a Jeep driving down the road toward us, leaving a dust haze in its wake. The dirt road runs through a field of orange and yellow wildflowers on a bed of green weeds, extending up from the center line into the rolling mountains which are mostly covered in the yellow flowers up to about the upper third of the frame, where the mountain becomes green up to the blue sky above. In the center, at about the lower third line, a man dressed in all white faces away from us and toward the flower field, with a tripod leg visible in front of him, although the camera is hidden by his body. The dust cloud from the Jeep is approaching him. Slightly farther up the road and on the other side, a car is parked facing away, with both doors open and a person standing in the driver's doorway taking a picture of the flowers. In the far distant portion of the road are two other vehicles traveling away.

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Mike McNerney @mikemcnerney.bsky.social · 20/03/2025

Picture of the day. The Christmas Tree Cluster and Cone Nebula - NGC2264. Taken 12/5/24 from my backyard. 102 x 180 seconds = 5 hours and 6 minutes of data (ZWO ASI2600MC Pro camera). #photography #photo #astrophotography #astronomy #science #stars #space #nightsky #night #sky #science #red #nebula

On a dark background of outer space, a mostly red nebula (cloud of gasses in space) stretches across almost the entire frame from left to right, with a cone shaped cloud protruding from left to right near the left edge, and a bluish white cloud from about center (left to right) to about 1/3 of the way from the right edge and from about 1/3 of the way from the bottom edge to about the center top to bottom, with a very bright star illuminating the bluish white cloud. Medium and small stars cover the entire image.

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Mike McNerney @mikemcnerney.bsky.social · 19/03/2025

Picture of the day. The Tadpole Nebula (NGC1893) in the constellation Auriga. Taken on 12/4/24 from my backyard in Castaic, CA. 132 frames x 180 seconds = 6 hrs 36 min exposure time. #photography #photo #astrophotography #astronomy #night #sky #nightsky #stars #nebula #universe #space #outerspace

on a black background of outer space, a red nebulous cloud covers most of the upper two-thirds of the image, curving from a little below center at the left edge of the frame, around to about the upper third near the right edge of the frame, with a pink reflection nebula glowing from under the red upper/thicker cloud formation. A single large dark brown to black odd-shaped spot is just left of center frame, like a hole cut in the nebula to see through to the blackness of space beyond. A few other non-uniform splotches of darkness permeate the nebula above and to the right of the large one. Below and to the right of the large dark spot are two nebulous forms looking like red tadpoles with bright heads swimming toward the center. The entire image is spattered with small, medium and large white, blue, orange, yellow, and red stars. Deep in the shadows to the outer edges are faint whisps of red nebulae, as this is a bright portion of a much larger nebula system.

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Mike McNerney @mikemcnerney.bsky.social · 16/03/2025

Picture of the day. Okay, the second one today. Medium format #film image taken with a vintage #mamiya C330 twin-lens reflex camera on #kodak TriX 400TX film at Carpenteria State #beach near #santabarbara #california. #photography #photo #blackandwhite #monochrome #ocean #waves #bird #seagull #sand

Monochrome (black and white) image of a seagull flying over the waves along the coastline. The bird is in the upper right of the picture, the horizon at the upper third, the sky is clear, the waves are rolling with foam crashing, but not large waves running along the coastline from the left horizon edge to about the lower third on the right edge of the picture, with two spent waves rolling back to sea under the newly crashing waves. The beach is mostly smooth with a few small stones in the lower center of the picture, and two sizeable clumps of seaweed near the left edge at about the center between top and bottom.

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Mike McNerney @mikemcnerney.bsky.social · 16/03/2025

Picture of the day. Messier 46, an open cluster in the constellation Puppis about 5k light years away. Within this frame are also two tiny planetary nebulae, NGC2437 and M1-18, and a smaller open cluster, NGC2425. #photography #photo #astrophotography #space #stars #nightsky #night #sky #outerspace

on a black field of outer space, the entire frame is covered in yellow, gold, white, and orange stars, with a tight grouping of small stars in the center. Just to the upper right of center is a single larger yellow star. At the left edge of the grouping in the center is a tiny red ring nebula with a blue center. About half way to straight to the left edge of frame from that nebula is an even smaller round red nebula.

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Mike McNerney @mikemcnerney.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

Picture of the day. Horsehead and Flame Nebulas, uncropped, including a sizeable halo from Alnilam, the middle star in Orion's belt. I took this about 3 years ago from Cosmic Campground, NM. #photography #photo #astrophotography #astronomy #nebula #space #outerspace #night #sky #nightsky #red #stars

On a dark field of outer space, diagonally from the lower right to the mid-upper left is a pink and red nebulous cloud, featuring shadows and highlights, including, at near the middle of the picture, the shadow side of a cloud protruding above the lighter nebulous clouds in a curve from near straight up to a right-angle point to the left, resembling a horses head (although I think it looks more like JarJar Binks from the Star Wars movies). About a quarter of the width of the picture to the left of the horsehead, is a bright nebula with protrusions to the left resembling flames (although I think it looks more like a flaming musical lyre or parade configured xylophone). In the upper left corner, extending down from the top of the picture, is the halo from the bright star Alnilam that is just out of frame. To the lower right of that halo is a nebulous cloud extending tall and clear from above the flame nebula. Immediately above the upper right corner of the flame nebula is Alnitak, the left-most star of Orion's belt. There are other stars of varying sizes dotting the entire image.

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Mike McNerney @mikemcnerney.bsky.social · 11/03/2025

Video of the day. We took the tour at #firestonewalkerbrewery where someone in the bottling department is apparently a 2001 A Space Oddyssey fan.

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Mike McNerney @mikemcnerney.bsky.social · 11/03/2025

Pictures of the day. We spent the past couple of days with #friends in #pasorobles #california #wine and #beer tasting and touring. #tincity #firestonewalker #etto

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Mike McNerney @mikemcnerney.bsky.social · 10/03/2025

Picture of the day. The Wizard Nebula imaged from a Bortle 2 campsite near Ash Fork, AZ a few days before in October 2024. #photography #photo #astrophotography #astronomy #universe #nebula #sky #nightsky #night #stars #outerspace #space #red

On a dark field of outer space, this vertical image focuses on a red and pink nebulous cloud curved with the convex side facing to the lower left and concave side to the upper right. The features of the cloud make it appear as a wizard's face with pointy hat about center-left, his body curved down and to the right from his head, with darker cloud formations appearing as arms and hands in a robe-like gown reaching out from his body, and a pink glow effusing from his hands toward the upper right, dissipating about center-right in the frame. There is a medium sized star just to the right of the wizard's left hand, two brighter stars close together about half way from his hand to the right edge of the frame, slightly above and nearly to the right edge of the frame is a very bright star, and near the top center of the frame, but slightly to the left of center, is another very bright star. The entire image is dotted with tiny to medium white, yellow, orange, and red stars.

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Mike McNerney @mikemcnerney.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

Picture of the day. The Seagull Nebula (IC 2177) in Hubble palette. Taken from Corales, NM taken 11/25/22. 70 x 300 seconds (mixed narrowband). #photography #photo #astrophotography #astronomy #sky #nightsky #night #nebula #universe #blue #yellow #stars

Against a black background of outer space, a nebula cloud shaped like a bird flying through space, with the trailing edges of the wings a translucent blue, the leading edges of the wings gradiating from translucent gold on the left to a greenish yellow on the right, and the head of the bird form also gradiating from gold to greenish yellow. The entire image is dotted with various sized stars from medium to tiny in size.

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Mike McNerney @mikemcnerney.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

Picture of the day. The Bubble Nebula - NGC 7635. This includes 60 images at 180 seconds each, taken with a ZWO ASI2600MC Pro camera through Orion 6" Ritchey-Chretien telescope last October. #photography #photo #astrophotography #red #bubble #space #nebula #night #nightsky #universe #astronomy

Against the dark background of outer space dotted with hundreds of medium to small stars, a red glowing nebulous cloud increases in brightness toward the center, where a bubble shaped nebulous cloud glows from the light of a bright star emanating from within the bubble shape.

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Mike McNerney @mikemcnerney.bsky.social · 06/03/2025

Picture of the day. The Flaming Star Nebula, in the constellation Auriga, is about 1,500 light years away. This is just over two hours of data I collected from somewhere in northern Illinois (I think). #photography #photo #astrophotography #nightsky #night #sky #universe #stars #nebula #red

On the black background of outer space, a large, red cloud of gasses roils over most of the left half of the picture, lit by a single bright white star near the center of the image, with dozens of smaller stars dotting the whole scene.

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Mike McNerney @mikemcnerney.bsky.social · 05/03/2025

Picture of the day. Sun roof becomes Milky Way roof. Yes, I actually took this from inside my car. It's a single frame, not composited. #photography #photo #night #nightphotography #milkyway #sunroof #sky #universe #galaxy #astrophotography #astronomy #toyota #rav4 #illinois

From inside a car, looking up through the open sunroof, the Milky Way runs from bright stars and nebulosity at the lower (farther) end of the sunroof opening to blending into the dark night sky at the upper end. The gray interior of the car roof gives a light purple glow as reflection from the dashboard lights which are out of frame to the lower left. At the lower left in frame, is the side window, out of which is the black silhouette of trees and power pole and lines against the yellow tinted clouds near the horizon reflecting light from a nearby town.

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Mike McNerney @mikemcnerney.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

Picture of the day. Globular cluster Messier 15, in the constellation Pegasus, is one of the oldest known globular clusters at about 12.5 billion years old. Taken from my backyard. #photography #photo #astrophotography #stars #cluster #night #sky #nightsky #space #outerspace #universe

On a black background of outer space, white, yellow, orange, red, and blue stars increase in numbers from the edges to the very center, where a tight cluster of stars emits a bright white and yellow light.

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Mike McNerney @mikemcnerney.bsky.social · 03/03/2025

Picture of the day. The Cygnus Wall in the constellation Cygnus. 35 x 180 sec, ZWO ASI2600MC Pro, Orion 6" Ritchey-Chretien on Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro mount, processed in Pixinsight. #photography #photo #astrophotography #nebula #stars #space #nightsky #night #sky #pink #red #astronomy #universe

On a black field of space dotted with a handful of bright stars and thousands of smaller, dimmer stars, a diagonal pink cloud of gasses runs from lower left to upper right with a large and a smaller protrusion extending for a short distance to the upper left. Also extending from the cloud are grayish-pink partially translucent gas and dust clouds, mostly on the upper left side of the nebula. In the far upper left, a clear area open to outer space creates a stark black void with a few distant stars visible.

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Mike McNerney @mikemcnerney.bsky.social · 02/03/2025

Picture of the day. Yes, we still listen to #cassette tapes. Yes, we still listen to #footloose . Yes, we still #dance in our underwear. That last part isn't in the picture. #80smusic #throwback #music #generationjones #oldtech #lowtech

On a wooden shelf, a cassettetape box of the Footloose movie soundtrack sits at the foot of a black graphic equalizer which is stacked under a black cassette tape player with the cassette tape of Footloose being inserted by a fingers and a thumb.

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Mike McNerney @mikemcnerney.bsky.social · 01/03/2025

Was hoping to have clear skies for the planet parade tonight, but, alas...

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Mike McNerney @mikemcnerney.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

Thanks, Jess! I responded thusly: It's a much longer answer, and I don't have enough characters here to tell the whole story, but it includes this administration's graft in all three branches, illegal immigrant Musk, treason, fascism, and ends by saying, "Thanks for asking."

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Mike McNerney @mikemcnerney.bsky.social · 26/02/2025

Nice! While imaging the center of the Rosette Nebula the other night, I was peeking at Orion through the binoculars.

In foreground of this nighttime image, on the lower left, the Rosette Nebula on an iPad screen is an orange, yellow, and red nebula shaped like a flower, with a dark blue-green center. Outside of the flower shape is green and blue outer space. The complete image if the nebula on the iPad screen is heavily dotted with mostly white and yellow stars. In the background, behind and to the right (upper right in the picture) is a large dark blue newtonian telescope on a large white mount, dimly lit, but with accents of red equipment lights and reflection off of a red astronomy camera attached on the underside of the telescope. The telescope and mount are in front of a fence running horizontally from left to right across the middle of the image at the bottom of a hill covered in foliage with a couple of distant trees, and a close tree in the upper left behind the iPad.

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Mike McNerney @mikemcnerney.bsky.social · 20/02/2025

Picture of the day. Buckingham Fountain in Chicago with fireworks from Navy Pier in the distance. #photography #photo #night #nightphotography #fountain #fireworks #chicago #red #gold #green #people #water #smoke

A night scene of Buckingham Fountain in Chicago on the left with red lights in the upper three tiers of the fountain and golden light on the lower tier, with the fountain animal sculpture lit in a green light. On the right, in the distance, red, white, green, and blue fireworks burst from Navy Pier, creating a smoke trail being blown to the upper left. In the left foreground, three people in light colored pants and darker patterned tops have a conversation in front of the fountain.

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Mike McNerney @mikemcnerney.bsky.social · 16/02/2025

Picture of the day - #stunday edition. NGC 6888, the Crescent Nebula in the constellation Cygnus, taken last July from Afton Forest Preserve near #DeKalb, #Illinois. #photography #astrophotography #astronomy #space #universe #pink #stars #outerspace #nebula

On a background of near black outer space dotted with white, gold, and red stars, centered and diagonally positioned is a large, oblong, mostly pink nebulous cloud of mostly hydrogen gas, the upper left being the brightest, fading to shadows on the lower right. The nebula has defined ridges where shadows define a brain-like shape. Around most of the pink opaque nebula are translucent blue whispy clouds of oxygen gasses creating an aura effect. A few brighter stars are present in front of the nebula, which, along with faint deep red nebulosity winding through areas of the black space behind, give the image a three dimensional quality.

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Mike McNerney @mikemcnerney.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

Picture of the day. NGC 7293 in the constellation Aquarius, better known as the Helix Nebula, is one of the closest planetary nebula to Earth, about 655 light years away. #photography #astrophotography #astronomy #space #nebula #helixnebula #stars #universe #milkyway #nightphotography #orange #blue

Over a black background of space, white, yellow, gold, and red stars of varying sizes randomly dot the entire image, while centered is an eye-shaped cloud of red and orange gasses surrounding a blue center circle of gasses, all semi opaque allowing stars in the background to be seen through the nebulous form.

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Mike McNerney @mikemcnerney.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

Picture of the day. Messier 27 in the constellation Vulpecula, better known as the Dumbbell Nebula, was discovered by Charles Messier in 1764. #photography #astrophotography #astronomy #space #nebula #dumbbellnebula #stars #universe #milkyway #nightphotography #pink #blue

$On a black background dotted with white, gold, and red stars, the Dumbbell Nebula is centered and roughly a spherical pink translucent ball with blue transluscent wing-like structures on the left and right sides, with the left side blue structure slightly higher than centered on the pink ball, and the right side structure slightly lower than centered on the pink ball. The combination of the pink and blue translucent structures gives an appearance similar to a hard candy disc wrapped in cellophane with the twisted "ears" of the cellophane being the blue structures. In the upper right corner, a white star is bright enough to have four diffraction spikes - or star points - jutting from the top, bottom, left, and right of the star.$

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Mike McNerney @mikemcnerney.bsky.social · 07/02/2025

Random picture of the day. Monochrome rose taken with a vintage medium format twin lens reflex Mamiya film camera.

Monochrome image of a rose in close focus where the petals are in focus and the light on the lower flower buds, which are slightly farther away, create a bokeh effect. The rose is lit by a single source from the right with the left side falling off into the black background.

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Mike McNerney @mikemcnerney.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

Random pic from my camera roll. Movie magic.

Light creating shadow beams from tall trees through movie smoke effect on the set of a television show.

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