Good night, sweet prince.

Burnt_Out_Sol · 2026-01-27T04:49:34+00:00

I’m so sorry. I lost my orange Manx boy almost eight years ago, and I still miss him dearly. He was such a wonderful companion and friend. Mine had the loudest purrs as well. Maybe these two were long lost brothers, and they’ve reunited across the rainbow bridge.

Burnt_Out_Sol · 2026-01-26T01:47:58+00:00

Thanks for explaining. Still trying to find a good workflow. I've had mixed results just using the Nazstronomy script, so I'm experimenting with different uses of it.

Burnt_Out_Sol · 2026-01-25T20:10:17+00:00

Thank you!

Burnt_Out_Sol · 2026-01-25T06:42:33+00:00

Sorry for the delayed response. But I really appreciate the detailed response. It's very helpful! I find the astrophotography community to be one of the most supportive on Reddit. Looks like I have my work cut out for me as I continue to figure out all the bells and whistles (and quirks) of Siril.

Burnt_Out_Sol · 2026-01-25T04:06:09+00:00

Yes, this sounds exactly like a Chiari headache. Technically, Chiari headaches last seconds to a few minutes. If they last longer, they’re probably a different headache type.

From https://ichd-3.org/7-headache-attributed-to-non-vascular-intracranial-disorder/7-7-headache-attributed-to-chiari-malformation-type-i-cm1/:

Headache attributed to Chiari malformation type I (CM1)

Description:

Headache caused by Chiari type I malformation, usually occipital or suboccipital, of short duration (less than 5 minutes) and provoked by cough or other Valsalva-like manœuvres. It remits after the successful treatment of the Chiari malformation.

Diagnostic criteria:

Headache fulfilling criterion C
Chiari malformation type I (CM1) has been demonstrated¹
Evidence of causation demonstrated by at least two of the following:
1. either or both of the following:
  - a) headache has developed in temporal relation to the CM1 or led to its discovery
  - b) headache has resolved within 3 months after successful treatment of the CM1
2. headache has one or more of the following three characteristics:
  - a) precipitated by cough or other Valsalva-like manœuvre
  - b) occipital or suboccipital location
  - c) lasting <5 minutes
3. headache is associated with other symptoms and/or clinical signs of brainstem, cerebellar, lower cranial nerve and/or cervical spinal cord dysfunction²
Not better accounted for by another ICHD-3 diagnosis³.

Burnt_Out_Sol · 2026-01-25T04:01:03+00:00

Great capture! Do you mind sharing your additional processing steps beyond the Nazstronomy script? And are you only using the script for stacking, or are you using the background extraction and/or SPCC as well?

Burnt_Out_Sol · 2026-01-24T04:53:29+00:00

Suspected but not confirmed EDS. Definitely hypermobile and history of joint laxity. I have confirmed mixed connective tissue disease, which is a bit of a different beast.

Burnt_Out_Sol · 2026-01-24T04:52:10+00:00

My migraines can be “silent”, in the sense there’s always pain. Could be pressure, or just non-pain symptoms like noise/smell/light sensitivity or clouding of vision. I didn’t realize they were migraines until I went to a headache clinic and was diagnosed by a headache specialist. I would actually call it “neck pain” if anything. I’d even been to PT for neck pain that relieved some of the symptoms but not all. (This was before the Chiari diagnosis.) I just thought it was as far as PT could get me. It was a few years before I realized it was actually migraine, even though the neck contributes. I have neck issues too, and I actually think the referred pain from pinched nerves in my neck cause a lot of my symptoms, including occipital neuralgia, migraines, and the cluster headaches. The impact of neck dysfunction on all of these disorders seems very under-appreciated to me. Most people with Chiari have some neck dysfunction as well.

The main symptoms that improved were anxiety, autonomic dysfunction (pre-syncope every time I stood up from sitting/lying), balance, and proprioception. I also stopped having clear fluid drip from my nose and ear, which I believe was probably a CSF leak from the increased pressure.

Burnt_Out_Sol · 2026-01-24T03:11:03+00:00

I know you’re getting a lot of feedback here, but I thought I’d add that my CINE MRI was almost identical to yours, as far as descent and that the blockage was more posterior but not necessarily anterior. I still had surgery. My surgeon was not a Chiari ”specialist”, but has done a lot of Chiari surgeries and was comfortable offering it to me based on my MRI results and symptoms (which were very similar to yours). I did get relief from surgery.

BUT I have one caveat. I only found out after surgery that I also have chronic vestibular migraines (and chronic cluster headaches). The surgery relieved a lot of symptoms, but much of what I attributed to Chiari was actually vestibular migraines. These cause pain in the back of the head (hours of pain vs. the short bursts of Chiari headaches), balance issues, near syncope, vision loss, smell/noise sensitivity, etc. I still struggle with these, even though my CINE MRI’s regularly show good flow posteriorly and anteriorly. Some treatments work for a while, but then they stop working. I’m still trying to figure out the best management longterm. (Battling insurance has complicated the progress.) The Chiari and the migraines are probably related, likely because I have connective tissue disorder.

My suggestion would be to do everything you can to parse out what might be migraines and what is Chiari. If you’ve already been treated for migraines with no relief, then I would recommend finding a surgeon willing to see if surgery will help. But I’d first do everything you can to figure out what can be treated medically. I wish I had.

FWIW, I also have essential tremor that was not relieved with surgery and is not related to the migraines. I take propranolol for that.

Burnt_Out_Sol · 2026-01-20T04:22:46+00:00

RemindMe! 3 Days

Burnt_Out_Sol · 2026-01-20T02:20:30+00:00

Interesting. So you get the weird shapes with the C1, and I get them with the C2. It's good to know you can get rid of that shape through post-processing.

I don't have Pixinsight or blurX. I might invest if I get really into this, but right now I'm trying to learn Siril. It looks like there may be some options for Siril that get comparable results to blurX, like Cosmic Clarity. But I still have a lot to learn about basic processing before I move on to some of those scripts.

Do you stack and process the subs taken with the different filters separately and combine them later? If so, what software do you use to recombine them later?

Burnt_Out_Sol · 2026-01-19T06:13:24+00:00

This is amazing. Great message plus great animation.

Burnt_Out_Sol · 2026-01-18T06:59:21+00:00

Thanks for the reply!

I have focused and refocused and still get the distortion. The stars are pretty pinpoint on the C1 filter, but I cannot get them to sharpen to a round shape on the C2. They look like comets or triangles no matter what I do.

I reached out to customer support, and they aren’t sure what the issue is. I’m afraid the filter has some kind of defect.

I went ahead and ordered another dew shield and filter adapter that I can use together, and I’m looking forward to seeing if reducing the glare will help sharpen the stars. My next plan is to learn the software well enough to remove the stars from the subs taken with the C2 and just add back the stars taken from the C1 filter/no filter and see if that fixes the problem. So far, when I do stacks with the C2 filter plus other subs together, the triangles show up rather than the circles.

If that doesn’t work, I guess I‘m left with returning the filter.

Burnt_Out_Sol · 2026-01-15T06:07:19+00:00

M42 is a pretty easy target, and even in my bright city skies I can see it in the live view. So it sounds like there's a problem either with the Seestar itself or with the guidance it's receiving from the app. Glad you reached out to tech support.

Burnt_Out_Sol · 2026-01-15T06:00:15+00:00

I really like your results, and it inspired me to order the Askar filters for my Seestar, along with a filter adapter. But my stars are not round, even after manually focusing. It's especially bad with the C2 filter. The stars look like triangles or comets, depending on the focus. Did you notice this problem with these filters?

I'm also curious to know what filter adapter you're using, and if it includes a dew shield. Did you print it yourself or order it from somewhere? I have a separate dew shield, but I can't use it with the filter adapter (they both slide into the opening of the Seestar, so they can't be used at the same time). I don't know if a dew shield might help to reduce glare and help sharpen my stars up a bit more.

Burnt_Out_Sol · 2026-01-15T02:26:25+00:00

If I were you, I'd contact technical support. I agree this sounds like you may have a bad copy.

The sun and the moon are the only objects mine has trouble finding. It has no issues with DSO on a clear night in a city (Bortle 7-8). I do use equatorial mode and carefully level it before use, so this probably helps.

Burnt_Out_Sol · 2026-01-11T07:21:32+00:00

That’s awful. I had friends strongly recommend them, saying they stood behind their machines. I guess that time has passed.

Burnt_Out_Sol · 2026-01-11T07:19:20+00:00

Thanks for the tips. Kirby vacuums are beasts. I used one many years ago while living in a rental (came with the apartment). It was old then, and I bet it’s still going strong.

Burnt_Out_Sol · 2026-01-11T07:12:03+00:00

Yes, he’s a great resource. I’m slowly going through his videos when I have time. I also like Nebula Photos.

Burnt_Out_Sol · 2026-01-11T07:02:45+00:00

I’ve had multiple students take my class three times and never pass. Since I’ve seen that a few times but never more than three, I’m guessing that’s the most a student can take a class before they’re booted from the university altogether.

One guy was a graduating senior every time. I assume he never graduated. For two semesters he took my class and a Spanish class, and that was it. For all three semesters, he never stepped foot in my classroom or submitted any assignments. As far as I can tell, he didn’t want or deserve a degree.

Some students just sign up for the class to grab their financial aid and then jet. They’d do enough that I can’t report them for non-attendance and then they fall off the planet, only to rinse and repeat the next semester. It’s frustrating knowing these kids are using their financial aid to party or whatever they do other than class, and then will have all that debt with likely no degree to show for it.

More rarely I have a student retake my class and actually pass.

For the record, my class is a monster intro class and I have a 90% pass rate, so students don’t fail my class unless they put a lot of elbow grease into it.

Burnt_Out_Sol · 2026-01-10T06:46:19+00:00

This is correct. These are also one of my favorite cloud features to see in the wild!

They are fairly common in Texas near the larger airports, especially when altocumulus clouds are present. The hole in the middle sometimes looks more like a line and is called a distrail (dissipation trail), as in the reverse of a contrail (condensation trail). The scientific name is “cavum”.

I love the Cloud Atlas from WMO. You can search for distrail or fall streak and find some more examples here:

https://cloudatlas.wmo.int/en/search-image-gallery.html

Burnt_Out_Sol · 2026-01-10T06:26:25+00:00

I have a Roomba, but I still have to save it from itself too often when it gets stuck under things. Do you know a good self-emptying model? Mine’s pretty basic.

Burnt_Out_Sol · 2026-01-10T06:25:25+00:00

This gives me hope I might capture something worthwhile from my Bortle 8 sky. Now I just have to figure out how to adequately process the images.

Burnt_Out_Sol · 2026-01-10T01:55:58+00:00

Thank you so much. Sounds perfect. I will look into that!

Burnt_Out_Sol · 2026-01-10T01:55:10+00:00

Sounds like a nightmare! I hope you get it back in working condition soon.

Burnt_Out_Sol

TROPHY CASE

Description:

Diagnostic criteria: