iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Aleksey Shipilëv @shipilev.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

RepairCafe restarts after summer break: Saturday, Sep 26, 11:00..13:00 at Potsdam SLB. Come bring your curiosity and your broken devices. We can tinker together, maybe successfully, maybe not, but it should be fun either way. We speak German, English, Russian.

Aleksey Shipilëv @shipilev.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Do you need 10Gbps network at home? Maybe not. But if your scratch astronomical data store is on local file server -- because your local desktop does not have terabytes of free space -- you would rather have it, no further questions asked.

Aleksey Shipilëv @shipilev.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Left unchecked for just two hours, software engineers will generate nearly 666 GiB of astronomical data without once stopping to ask how it impacts the world.

Aleksey Shipilëv @shipilev.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Yay, MLAstro SAL-33 looks like a drop-in replacement for ZWO AM5N. (Which is in itself an overkill for this particular setup, still hunting for second-hand AM3N.)

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Aleksey Shipilëv @shipilev.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Say what, PixInsight 1.9.5 ships with some nice performance improvements. The same workflow on the same machine took about 15 minutes before, with local normalization taking most of the time. And now it is blazing fast! Impressive!

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Aleksey Shipilëv @shipilev.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Do not invite me to a C++ Memory Model talk, if it does not have a slide like this one.

Aleksey Shipilëv @shipilev.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

✅ JDK 27 shipped yesterday with Shenandoah Late Barrier Expansion (JDK-8366041), gets us 0..20% throughput bump. 🔄 JDK 28 would hopefully ship in Mar 2027 with Shenandoah Hotpatching (JDK-8384415), gets us another 0..5% throughput bump. 🤘 JDK 29 in Sep 2027 would be awesome.

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Aleksey Shipilëv @shipilev.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Mid-September Hα Sun. I suddenly realized that my air-spaced, pressure-tuned Lunt 60 *can* be used in colder weather too, so upcoming winter is not going to stop me! Must be misremembering thermally-tuned Quarks operating range. Higher res: app.astrobin.com/i/frxg9p

Aleksey Shipilëv @shipilev.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

It is one humbling thing to cede half of your software developer career to a datacenter full of GPUs. It would be a whole new level of humility to cede the other half to a fruit fly farm.

Aleksey Shipilëv @shipilev.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

It is almost inevitable for a grown man in his forties to have a hobby that involves painting expensive toys.

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Aleksey Shipilëv @shipilev.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

I am embarrassed to admit this, but I somehow misremembered this from my Uni days and thought the Navier–Stokes problem was to find a closed-form solution in ℝ³, rather than to prove the existence of smooth solutions. A man can dream.

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Aleksey Shipilëv @shipilev.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

"Friedrich Merz »zutiefst schockiert« über Ergebnis in Sachsen-Anhalt" -- Mein Gott, man muss über 50 Jahre lang in der IT-Branche tätig sein, um ein solches Maß an Kurzsichtigkeit zu erreichen. Die deutsche Bundesregierung heute, das Symbolbild.

Aleksey Shipilëv @shipilev.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Friday funking around with cleaner Shenandoah GC logs, already in JDK mainline. Modern concurrent GCs for the win for both latencies, footprint, and often throughput as well!

Aleksey Shipilëv @shipilev.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Me in 2016: <checks that GC logs can be understood by humans> Me in 2026: <checks that GC logs can be understood by Claude>

Aleksey Shipilëv @shipilev.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

I took a "professional" camera (Canon 5D Mark II with EF 24-70) that "professionals" use and made the photo of my green backyard. As you (CANNOT) SEE, it is all CGI, and "professionals" blatantly lie about their results! It is all blurry, blocky, and no real green in sight!!!

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Aleksey Shipilëv @shipilev.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

Finally spent enough local compute to process the partial recording of partial solar eclipse last week. This eclipse is too close to horizon, so you get all the clouds you (don't) want. But you can still pull things out! AstroBin: app.astrobin.com/i/2bu5pi

app.astrobin.com

Partial Solar Eclipse in Hα: Timelapse - AstroBin

Partial Solar Eclipse in Hα: Timelapse imaged with Lunt LS60MT, ZWO ASI676MM, by Aleksey Shipilëv on AstroBin.

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Aleksey Shipilëv @shipilev.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

I have a hypothesis: there must be a large cohort of software developers who dodged the addictive AI development loop that keeps you working late into the night, having already acquired natural immunity by getting sick with -- and recovering from -- Factorio.

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Aleksey Shipilëv @shipilev.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

What do you do when tired after eclipse observations, but still have a clear sky? Feels bad to waste it, so you just point the scope at something that is available through the window. Eagle Nebula, my old friend: app.astrobin.com/i/v43z0z

app.astrobin.com

Eagle Nebula - AstroBin

Eagle Nebula imaged with Askar FRA500, ZWO ASI2600MC Pro, 45m of total integration, by Aleksey Shipilëv on AstroBin.

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Aleksey Shipilëv @shipilev.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Well, hello there. Sun disk in Hα (normal), Sun prominence at 2h in Hα (huge), Moon in Hα (black), thin clouds near the horizon in Hα (blurry), airplane [seems to check out as Ethiopian cargo plane] with exhaust plume in Hα (clearly visible). I'll remaster it... later.

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Aleksey Shipilëv @shipilev.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

PSA: Under NO circumstances look at the Sun without proper Solar-grade filters. NOT with the naked eyes, NOT with sunglasses, and especially NOT with any lens optics. NOT EVEN WHEN SUN IS AT TOTAL ECLIPSE! You WILL damage your retina, even if temporarily. Warn others near you.

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Aleksey Shipilëv @shipilev.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

I suspect halftone printing was invented by the Universe to render the Milky Way. 250MP Milky Way mosaics from last night takes quite a bit of compute, but ends up nicely showing 400K+ individual stars with some dust in background. Zoom is at AstroBin: app.astrobin.com/i/q3snri

Aleksey Shipilëv @shipilev.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

You are Altair, the 12th brightest star in the sky. How many stars are around you? Yes. app.astrobin.com/i/htriq8

Aleksey Shipilëv @shipilev.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

It is one thing to take a hand-held camera or a smart telescope and have a Milky Way shot. It is a whole other experience to have a purpose-built widefield rig and do the Milky Way mosaics! Plate solvers find 300K stars in it! Full: app.astrobin.com/i/z13vp6

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Aleksey Shipilëv @shipilev.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Current astro mounts are designed to carry and slew 10+ kgs of gear with precision and the speed of several degrees per second. This means so much torque, that they take no prisoners and WILL rip out the USB ports if a cable snags. (This one is pretty cheap to fix, phew.)

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Aleksey Shipilëv @shipilev.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Made it from the first try with one of the most photogenic summer target: Cygnus Loop, a fairly young supernova remnant. Very bright in Hα and OIII bands, can be done in full Moon, very large so a smaller scope frames it well. Full + specs: app.astrobin.com/i/1lzdiy

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Aleksey Shipilëv @shipilev.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

Bode's Galaxy in 1400mm and Tri-Band filters. Pulls significantly more Hα signal, so more of in-galaxy nebulosity is visible, at the expense of broadband fidelity at periphery. Questionable seeing, target is below 30°, scope needs collimation. Full: app.astrobin.com/i/6f2sk0

Aleksey Shipilëv @shipilev.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Having fun with ad-hoc cross-JDK progress comparisons. A lot of work went into baseline JDK. A lot of work went into Shenandoah improvements as well. Not shown here are latency numbers that also go down. This is a common story: JDK updates make numbers go up, I mean down.

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Aleksey Shipilëv @shipilev.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Hotpatch GC state checks in Shenandoah, yeah! Something that I had in mind for a year or so, and now we have enough scaffolding to actually implement it. This is one satisfying <1 KLOC patch. -- What kind of black magic trickery this is? -- Ha-ha, managed runtimes go brrr.

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Aleksey Shipilëv @shipilev.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Bode's Galaxy again, this time with EdgeHD 8" at 1400mm FL, in unfavorable seeing. Imaging at that scale is hard, but something can be pulled from the fairly questionable data. Full "res" and specs: app.astrobin.com/i/on00u9

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Aleksey Shipilëv @shipilev.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Yay, a spiritual successor for Waveform Bufferbloat tests appeared: test.libreqos.com. Fairly sensitive to my router QoS settings, as one can see the latencies are near the floor when QoS is on, and, well... not otherwise.

Aleksey Shipilëv @shipilev.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Collecting more data every night, so Bode's and Cigar galaxies reveal more details. It is always fun with larger galaxies that you can pull out the *nebulae* in them. The only higher excitement is catching supernova. Full ongoing project, specs, etc: app.astrobin.com/i/29etw1

Aleksey Shipilëv @shipilev.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Only few products hit their brand name perfectly. WO Cat Eyes widefield binoculars is definitely one of those. They effectively increase the light gathering (effective pupil!), allowing one to see many more stars.

Aleksey Shipilëv @shipilev.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Better framing of Bode's Galaxy and its neighbors. There are 5 clearly visible galaxies in this shot, but if you look closer and cross-reference with galaxies catalogs, there are 50+ fainter galaxies in the shot. Full + specs: app.astrobin.com/i/xcb4ld

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Aleksey Shipilëv @shipilev.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Oh no, Bode's and Cigar galaxies are getting closer and closer as I switch to scopes with larger focal length! Full + specs: app.astrobin.com/i/aa58a9

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Aleksey Shipilëv @shipilev.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

Askar SQA55 is just really good; quite a bit better than FRA500. I can see how that is a gateway drug into the rest of SQA series. When >130mm SQAs become reasonably priced (a man can dream), it would be absolute fire. Here is Bode's Galaxy again: app.astrobin.com/i/vioe5g

Aleksey Shipilëv @shipilev.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

Oh, how I love terrestrial shots through well-corrected telescopes. Seeing perfect water drops on the leaves 25 meters away, nice. (Snatched a second-hand SQA55 + a few accessories for nearly half the price of new.)

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Aleksey Shipilëv @shipilev.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

Oh, yes. Little Bode's Galaxy, we call him. app.astrobin.com?i=38wqki

Aleksey Shipilëv @shipilev.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Interesting, most of the higher-performing Lunts are sold out until September here. People must be preparing for total solar eclipse in August. Every other week, I pat myself on the back for getting Lunt 60, and wait for someone to finally get desperate and buy my old PST :P

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Aleksey Shipilëv @shipilev.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

"Living, Breathing, European Heatwave Searing Sun: 1 Hour Hα Timelapse". Higher resolution attempt, now that I have a larger 676MM sensor and better match to Lunt 60. Full size and specs: app.astrobin.com/i/f5to2n

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Aleksey Shipilëv @shipilev.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

YOU GUYS, I think I found what is responsible for this freaking heatwave! It was the Sun all along! There would have been no problems if Sun was not shining, at very least no one would ever complain again. The camera sensor is now at +55°C, I am sure it is fine.

Aleksey Shipilëv @shipilev.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

It never ceases to amaze me how many stars are visible from a bright city center, with a very modest terrestrial equipment, and a very light post-processing. Single 300s shot, 45°x30° FOV, unguided tracking, background cancellation, auto-stretches.

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Aleksey Shipilëv @shipilev.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Love it when long-exposure shots come with embedded visualization. Here, we can see 8 flashes for aircraft anti-collision lights. Almost 9, if they were sampled at the edges of the line. With 10s exposure, this computes to 54 per minute, within [40; 100] per minute mandated by EASA/FAA.

Aleksey Shipilëv @shipilev.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

You know what, I would start calling this THE TRILLIONARE'S CURSE now. As far as I can see, the majority of 10s frames have multiple satellite streaks present. Normally those would be rejection-stacked out, but no chance for widefield timelapses. More at: app.astrobin.com/i/rpt8am