Jim Lewallen
@jameslew.bsky.social
Father, Sci-fi fan, BBQ & all sorts of other cooking, and astronomy. Lately have added bread making, fermenting foods, astrophotography to my activity list.
Pelican Nebula this time; NGC 5070. 3 hours of 180s exposures, Bortle 5 skies outside Seattle. Enjoyed this one, I'm getting into taking just one object a night vs 2-3.
October 6, 2025 at 2:02 AM
Pelican Nebula this time; NGC 5070. 3 hours of 180s exposures, Bortle 5 skies outside Seattle. Enjoyed this one, I'm getting into taking just one object a night vs 2-3.
Love Brian Lagerstrom’s croissant recipe. Two out of two times so far. I know he says it’s fussy, but it’s really not that bad.
October 4, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Love Brian Lagerstrom’s croissant recipe. Two out of two times so far. I know he says it’s fussy, but it’s really not that bad.
Things you only see on the Pacific Northwest. Moderate weather threat for high 80’s.
August 21, 2025 at 7:14 PM
Things you only see on the Pacific Northwest. Moderate weather threat for high 80’s.
Weekend knife reprofiling… because there are other people in the house who are not as careful with the knives than I am.
August 2, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Weekend knife reprofiling… because there are other people in the house who are not as careful with the knives than I am.
Thanks Seattle skies; I’ll give up Astro for a sunset this beautiful.
July 31, 2025 at 4:05 AM
Thanks Seattle skies; I’ll give up Astro for a sunset this beautiful.
Went to the Washington State Star Party last week; got a few that I like, here's a capture of SH-131 (Elephant Trunk Nebula). I damped a lot of the surrounding dust which may not be true to form, but I liked it this way. #astrophotography
July 29, 2025 at 12:52 AM
Went to the Washington State Star Party last week; got a few that I like, here's a capture of SH-131 (Elephant Trunk Nebula). I damped a lot of the surrounding dust which may not be true to form, but I liked it this way. #astrophotography
Jacques ze Whipper doing Coldplay at a the Colorado Renaissance Faire was not something I expected to be watching today.
July 19, 2025 at 5:21 PM
Jacques ze Whipper doing Coldplay at a the Colorado Renaissance Faire was not something I expected to be watching today.
When you have to take a meeting for school while on vacation visiting Garden of the Gods in CO.
July 17, 2025 at 8:49 PM
When you have to take a meeting for school while on vacation visiting Garden of the Gods in CO.
NGG 6946, otherwise known as the Fireworks Galaxy. 60x3min images with a 150mm newtonian. One shot color camera, UVIR filter. #astrophotography
July 6, 2025 at 1:28 AM
NGG 6946, otherwise known as the Fireworks Galaxy. 60x3min images with a 150mm newtonian. One shot color camera, UVIR filter. #astrophotography
First attempt at M51 with my 150mm newt; 3 hours of 120s exposures, post processed in pixinsight. I may reprocess again, I got a little heavy handed. #astronomy
May 31, 2025 at 10:26 PM
First attempt at M51 with my 150mm newt; 3 hours of 120s exposures, post processed in pixinsight. I may reprocess again, I got a little heavy handed. #astronomy
Been wanting to make the trek down to Seattle for a while for this.
May 24, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Been wanting to make the trek down to Seattle for a while for this.
When your former product/release manager spouse goes out of town for two weeks with the kids and leaves you to take care of the farm animals.
May 12, 2025 at 9:44 PM
When your former product/release manager spouse goes out of town for two weeks with the kids and leaves you to take care of the farm animals.
M106 and some nearby galaxies. 30x300s exposures, Redcat51. #astronomy
Tools like ASIAIR make astrophotography a dream compared to when I used to fight with serial cables and custom apps 30 years ago. It was so bad back then, I often forgot to look up I was so fixated on the technical difficulties.
Tools like ASIAIR make astrophotography a dream compared to when I used to fight with serial cables and custom apps 30 years ago. It was so bad back then, I often forgot to look up I was so fixated on the technical difficulties.
May 10, 2025 at 6:32 PM
M106 and some nearby galaxies. 30x300s exposures, Redcat51. #astronomy
Tools like ASIAIR make astrophotography a dream compared to when I used to fight with serial cables and custom apps 30 years ago. It was so bad back then, I often forgot to look up I was so fixated on the technical difficulties.
Tools like ASIAIR make astrophotography a dream compared to when I used to fight with serial cables and custom apps 30 years ago. It was so bad back then, I often forgot to look up I was so fixated on the technical difficulties.
Instead of whining about everything, I’ll post the Pinwheel galaxy, M101. Redcat51, 300s exposures.
New scope coming next week, want to try this same shot again with Apertura CarbonStar; hopefully more detail. #astronomy
New scope coming next week, want to try this same shot again with Apertura CarbonStar; hopefully more detail. #astronomy
May 10, 2025 at 1:07 AM
Instead of whining about everything, I’ll post the Pinwheel galaxy, M101. Redcat51, 300s exposures.
New scope coming next week, want to try this same shot again with Apertura CarbonStar; hopefully more detail. #astronomy
New scope coming next week, want to try this same shot again with Apertura CarbonStar; hopefully more detail. #astronomy
It's images like these that will make me want to get a setup with better resolving power; I already count > 10 galaxies in here (some are very small) and now what I want is more detail in each of them.
It may be time for a mid-sized newtonian and a mono camera.
It may be time for a mid-sized newtonian and a mono camera.
April 20, 2025 at 12:32 AM
It's images like these that will make me want to get a setup with better resolving power; I already count > 10 galaxies in here (some are very small) and now what I want is more detail in each of them.
It may be time for a mid-sized newtonian and a mono camera.
It may be time for a mid-sized newtonian and a mono camera.
Apparently, it's a whole thing on Amazon:
March 14, 2025 at 10:37 PM
Apparently, it's a whole thing on Amazon:
NGC 2244 Rosette Nebula, Vespera 2, single night image, post-processed in PI. Dual band filter.
March 9, 2025 at 12:51 AM
NGC 2244 Rosette Nebula, Vespera 2, single night image, post-processed in PI. Dual band filter.
Mom & Dad's 1986 investment in my future career path. This was a few years after we'd gotten the Commodore 64 with a tape drive.
Also mom keeps receipts a bit too long.
Also mom keeps receipts a bit too long.
February 22, 2025 at 12:40 AM
Mom & Dad's 1986 investment in my future career path. This was a few years after we'd gotten the Commodore 64 with a tape drive.
Also mom keeps receipts a bit too long.
Also mom keeps receipts a bit too long.
New one - NGC 2175, Monkey Head Nebula, 12 5-minute exposures, RedCat51.
February 7, 2025 at 2:18 AM
New one - NGC 2175, Monkey Head Nebula, 12 5-minute exposures, RedCat51.
lol, O3 Mini ChatGPT is having an existential crisis.
February 1, 2025 at 2:32 AM
lol, O3 Mini ChatGPT is having an existential crisis.
More fun with amateur astrophotography - Triangulum galaxy from outside seattle. 120 30s captures.
January 30, 2025 at 5:30 AM
More fun with amateur astrophotography - Triangulum galaxy from outside seattle. 120 30s captures.
Well, I did get 10 2-minute frames before the astorphoto setup hung last night. Flame and Horsehead nebulae. Redcat 51, ASI533MC, taken outside Seattle.
January 25, 2025 at 7:52 PM
Well, I did get 10 2-minute frames before the astorphoto setup hung last night. Flame and Horsehead nebulae. Redcat 51, ASI533MC, taken outside Seattle.
Had a lovely, unexpected clear night and got five different captures run. IC443, Jellyfish nebula in this one from a Redcat 51. 20, 300s exposures.
January 20, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Had a lovely, unexpected clear night and got five different captures run. IC443, Jellyfish nebula in this one from a Redcat 51. 20, 300s exposures.
Progress made. Another 20F internal and dinner time.
January 13, 2025 at 1:40 AM
Progress made. Another 20F internal and dinner time.
Attempting gyros on a horizontal rotisserie. We’ll see if it falls apart first.
January 13, 2025 at 12:04 AM
Attempting gyros on a horizontal rotisserie. We’ll see if it falls apart first.