Aleksey Shipilëv
@shipilev.bsky.social
In love-hate relationship with machines. Currently: OpenJDK, AWS. "Trust me, it's really me" backlink: https://shipilev.net/#social
Some day most telescope manufacturers would realize that the majority of customers use their expensive astrographs with EAF permanently attached, and do the foam cuts in their boxes to accommodate that. That day is unfortunately not today. One can flip and do the ugly cut, though.
November 9, 2025 at 10:10 AM
Some day most telescope manufacturers would realize that the majority of customers use their expensive astrographs with EAF permanently attached, and do the foam cuts in their boxes to accommodate that. That day is unfortunately not today. One can flip and do the ugly cut, though.
Alternative way to carry this bundle is:
November 9, 2025 at 8:47 AM
Alternative way to carry this bundle is:
You know what, I might actually enjoy this deep-sky rig quite a bit. This thing is seriously fast, so that it gives me something like *this* with only 1.5 hrs total integration time and absolutely rushed post-processing with the simplest workflow I could imagine.
November 6, 2025 at 9:55 PM
You know what, I might actually enjoy this deep-sky rig quite a bit. This thing is seriously fast, so that it gives me something like *this* with only 1.5 hrs total integration time and absolutely rushed post-processing with the simplest workflow I could imagine.
Yay, new imaging rig assembled and tested on terrestrial. Not visible here: f/3.9 reducer which, combined with 90mm aperture, is going to make this uberfast, cutting exposures (smashes calculator) 4x compared to old one. Useful when I have only a few hours a week shooting things.
November 2, 2025 at 11:33 AM
Yay, new imaging rig assembled and tested on terrestrial. Not visible here: f/3.9 reducer which, combined with 90mm aperture, is going to make this uberfast, cutting exposures (smashes calculator) 4x compared to old one. Useful when I have only a few hours a week shooting things.
How dry do you want your astro-camera to be done? -- Yes.
October 25, 2025 at 7:36 AM
How dry do you want your astro-camera to be done? -- Yes.
High integration time and low light pollution are good, for sure. But you can and should just get out and shoot stuff, because "any data >> perfect data" in this game. These two are 10x60s stacks, with a "slow" f/7 scope + dual narrowband filter, from a very bright city center.
October 22, 2025 at 8:17 AM
High integration time and low light pollution are good, for sure. But you can and should just get out and shoot stuff, because "any data >> perfect data" in this game. These two are 10x60s stacks, with a "slow" f/7 scope + dual narrowband filter, from a very bright city center.
I loved you, Coronado PST. I hated you, Coronado PST. You gave me the best Sun Hα images. You gave me the worst Sun Hα images. Now it is time to fulfill your destiny and become the integral part of much larger imaging train. (Shout out to AOK Swiss for consulting and adapters!)
October 21, 2025 at 6:42 PM
I loved you, Coronado PST. I hated you, Coronado PST. You gave me the best Sun Hα images. You gave me the worst Sun Hα images. Now it is time to fulfill your destiny and become the integral part of much larger imaging train. (Shout out to AOK Swiss for consulting and adapters!)
Very crude stacking attempt to see if it even works. The airplane trail is... er... for scale. This thing is pretty fun to work with: the comet moves across the star field pretty quickly, so normal stacking techniques produce a mess. You need to get creative with star masks, etc.
October 19, 2025 at 9:41 PM
Very crude stacking attempt to see if it even works. The airplane trail is... er... for scale. This thing is pretty fun to work with: the comet moves across the star field pretty quickly, so normal stacking techniques produce a mess. You need to get creative with star masks, etc.
High-maintenance hobby is: you do not really want to go outside Sunday night and freeze your bottom off, but if you don't, the next chance you will be able to do so is in 1350+ years. (Imaging C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) comet)
October 19, 2025 at 8:42 PM
High-maintenance hobby is: you do not really want to go outside Sunday night and freeze your bottom off, but if you don't, the next chance you will be able to do so is in 1350+ years. (Imaging C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) comet)
(looks at another hair-raising concurrency bug and taps the sign again)
October 12, 2025 at 10:38 AM
(looks at another hair-raising concurrency bug and taps the sign again)
A periodic reminder that you can re-process iconic Hubble images from the publicly available Hubble raw captures using the pretty standard astrophotography tooling. Since all of this is synthetic color, you can choose your own for extra trippy results.
October 11, 2025 at 11:22 AM
A periodic reminder that you can re-process iconic Hubble images from the publicly available Hubble raw captures using the pretty standard astrophotography tooling. Since all of this is synthetic color, you can choose your own for extra trippy results.
Ever seen a verbose render how a very small GC operation looks like in the context of larger safepoint? Here it is: (I need to blog about things you can see there)
October 10, 2025 at 10:35 AM
Ever seen a verbose render how a very small GC operation looks like in the context of larger safepoint? Here it is: (I need to blog about things you can see there)
Stitching mosaics by hand is pretty meditative, though. Like a puzzle where pieces do not exactly fit due to field curvature and exposure oddities.
October 4, 2025 at 4:12 PM
Stitching mosaics by hand is pretty meditative, though. Like a puzzle where pieces do not exactly fit due to field curvature and exposure oddities.
Argh, this hobby is half frustration. The mosaics was miscaptured with clipped edge. Why could not it clip on the DARK edge? Argh. So close to 200 megapixels. Argh.
October 4, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Argh, this hobby is half frustration. The mosaics was miscaptured with clipped edge. Why could not it clip on the DARK edge? Argh. So close to 200 megapixels. Argh.
3x Barlow pushes 80/560 refractor and 2.0μm pixel camera way below the diffraction limit for pixel-perfect resolution. You can still recover some by post-processing tricks. This photo is 9Kx9K, likely very printable! Downsampled 4x here for preview:
October 4, 2025 at 11:24 AM
3x Barlow pushes 80/560 refractor and 2.0μm pixel camera way below the diffraction limit for pixel-perfect resolution. You can still recover some by post-processing tricks. This photo is 9Kx9K, likely very printable! Downsampled 4x here for preview:
If you ever find yourself unsure where you are in relation to the Universe, look up, find Saturn, and check it looks perfectly straight. ᵗʰᵉ ᵒᶠᶠᵉʳ ᶦˢ ᵗᶦᵐᵉ⁻ˡᶦᵐᶦᵗᵉᵈ ⁻⁻ ᶠᵒʳ ᵇᵉˢᵗ ʳᵉˢᵘˡᵗˢ ᵖᵉʳᶠᵒʳᵐ ᵗʰᵉ ᵖᵒˡᵃʳ ᵃˡᶦᵍⁿᵐᵉⁿᵗ ᵒᶠ ʸᵒᵘʳ ʰᵉᵃᵈ
October 3, 2025 at 9:05 PM
If you ever find yourself unsure where you are in relation to the Universe, look up, find Saturn, and check it looks perfectly straight. ᵗʰᵉ ᵒᶠᶠᵉʳ ᶦˢ ᵗᶦᵐᵉ⁻ˡᶦᵐᶦᵗᵉᵈ ⁻⁻ ᶠᵒʳ ᵇᵉˢᵗ ʳᵉˢᵘˡᵗˢ ᵖᵉʳᶠᵒʳᵐ ᵗʰᵉ ᵖᵒˡᵃʳ ᵃˡᶦᵍⁿᵐᵉⁿᵗ ᵒᶠ ʸᵒᵘʳ ʰᵉᵃᵈ
Using narrowband filters (Baader Solar Continuum 7.5nm in this case) does improve Moon contrast quite a bit, even though it pushes the exposure times way up. A doublet with heavy chromatic aberration gets fairly monochromatic light :P [Downsampled 4x here for preview:]
October 3, 2025 at 2:23 PM
Using narrowband filters (Baader Solar Continuum 7.5nm in this case) does improve Moon contrast quite a bit, even though it pushes the exposure times way up. A doublet with heavy chromatic aberration gets fairly monochromatic light :P [Downsampled 4x here for preview:]
Trials for high resolution full Moon mosaics are in progress. You don't need a cooled camera when it is already cold outside 🥶.
October 2, 2025 at 8:02 PM
Trials for high resolution full Moon mosaics are in progress. You don't need a cooled camera when it is already cold outside 🥶.
Trying out Baader Solar Continuum 7.5nm filter. Pros: contrast improves quite a bit. Cons: narrowband means longer exposures, with 3x Barlow it goes into 50ms, which turns lucky imaging into REALLY LUCKY imaging. Left: what SDO sees. Right: what my scope sees.
October 2, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Trying out Baader Solar Continuum 7.5nm filter. Pros: contrast improves quite a bit. Cons: narrowband means longer exposures, with 3x Barlow it goes into 50ms, which turns lucky imaging into REALLY LUCKY imaging. Left: what SDO sees. Right: what my scope sees.
This is happening. I have been using PixInsight for deep-sky and most of the solar/lunar work during the 45-day trial period, and it did not disappoint. Best €350 I spent on astrophotography stuff so far.
October 1, 2025 at 7:03 AM
This is happening. I have been using PixInsight for deep-sky and most of the solar/lunar work during the 45-day trial period, and it did not disappoint. Best €350 I spent on astrophotography stuff so far.
Astrophotography things I believed in half a year ago: expensive acquisition hardware. Things I believe in now: expensive post-processing software, plus post-processing skills. Same raw data, drastically different outcomes.
September 30, 2025 at 7:43 AM
Astrophotography things I believed in half a year ago: expensive acquisition hardware. Things I believe in now: expensive post-processing software, plus post-processing skills. Same raw data, drastically different outcomes.
Huh. Looks too erratic and squarely to be a Moire? Also, would it imply the original image has some sort of periodicity? On the closer inspection, this looks more like JPEG recompression artifacts, maybe you got the dimensions "just right" that blocking got way worse than it should be?
September 30, 2025 at 6:31 AM
Huh. Looks too erratic and squarely to be a Moire? Also, would it imply the original image has some sort of periodicity? On the closer inspection, this looks more like JPEG recompression artifacts, maybe you got the dimensions "just right" that blocking got way worse than it should be?
Upping the post-processing game:
September 30, 2025 at 6:01 AM
Upping the post-processing game:
30 minute total exposure of M31 (Andromeda Galaxy) + M110 companion from the bright Potsdam city center.
September 29, 2025 at 6:26 AM
30 minute total exposure of M31 (Andromeda Galaxy) + M110 companion from the bright Potsdam city center.
Me: "Astrophotography in the city sky is so frustrating, so much light pollution". Also me: <deploying the photo rig literally between two streetlights>
September 28, 2025 at 9:02 PM
Me: "Astrophotography in the city sky is so frustrating, so much light pollution". Also me: <deploying the photo rig literally between two streetlights>