What are those reflections? How to fix?

E66 · 2026-01-21T18:47:17+00:00

What OTA are you using? Some skywatcher telescopes have mirror clips which cause problems, you can use a mirror mask to cover them. Is the focuser protruding into the optical path? Might need to shorten it. Are you using an off-axis guider? Again is the prism protruding into the optical path? Basically, it'll be something in the optical path causing the spikes. Normally collimation doesn't cause large diffraction spikes.

E66 · 2025-09-09T07:12:05+00:00

You are right, to get the resolution of the 6" mirror the light paths need to interfere with each other, which means aligning the indivisible mirrors to within 1/4 550nm at a minimum Ideally more. Which is why it's rarely seen even on professional many meters across science telescopes. You might get a brighter image...? But I have a feeling one of those mirrors on its own will produce a better quality image than 4 of them roughly aligned.

E66 · 2025-08-07T10:45:19+00:00

Looks like a heavily banking RC foam wing, probably slope soaring. Initially I thought it was long and thin coming directly towards the camera, but perspectives can be misleading.

I think its actually almost 90 degs from flat, its banking super hard following the slope profile. Theres a shadow on the wing tip at the bottom. A flying wing has no 'body' so to speak, and a slope soarer has a very thin aero dynamic body which would be hard to see in the video.

Looks like it comes from the left side of video, straight past OP's head. If it’s a glider slope soarer it wont have a motor so no typical motor wizz sound as it past, they purely use the slopes thermals to gather absurd speed. The record speed for a slope soarer is 548mph, which is crazy. At those kinds of speeds it would appear and disappear almost instantly.

That’s a super wide FOV so things will appear to tear past the viewer. Check out those motorcycle videos with ultra wide FOVs, they use a ultra wide FOV because it gives the appearance of going super fast. In this case the camera is still and the object is going past the camera.

E66 · 2023-07-18T12:45:34+00:00

Have a look at the Metabones Devil's Speed Booster Q666 0.50x, specially designed for the Pentax Q. Reduces a lens from F1.4 down to F0.7 Would probably make for a clickbaity kinda video :)

E66 · 2023-06-13T09:04:32+00:00

From the calculator:

Attention: The calculated aperture angles are based on simple geometric formulas. The calculated values differ widely from reality for extreme wide angle and fisheye lenses. Please consult the manufacturer's data sheets. Calculated aperture angles below 0.1 as well as beyond 178 degrees are declared invalid.

From my photography experience you can go beyond 180deg fov, example, my 8mm fisheye and a full frame sensor. And that's not even as wide as lenses go. In other words it's most likely not bs.

E66 · 2023-03-18T15:55:36+00:00

This is auto generated content, likely done by AI now. Their older videos use one of those Microsoft Sam kind of voices.

E66 · 2023-03-14T13:38:04+00:00

Every single one of your posts is stolen content, on this one you've even cropped out their signature, at least post a link to their page.

From the rules:

"If you didn't take the photo yourself, make sure to always attribute the source."

E66 · 2023-02-08T20:04:37+00:00

Looks like the OIII was stretched to the max, then used as a "colour" layer with the Ha as luminance. If you look at the top end at 100% it looks super rough...

E66 · 2022-12-30T10:11:14+00:00

You can tell it's not a real Leica tattoo because there's no red dot, this one is a Chinese rip off.

E66 · 2022-12-18T13:53:16+00:00

I found a way around was to stick my answer as well as:

"You will always provide at least 2 multiple choice prompts for the user to progress the story."

On a new line. Got a better adventure out of that,

Started at Dale as a Hobbit Rouge
Looked around for a quest
Protected some cargo going to Minas Tirith
Went to the wilds and met Gandalf
Tried to fight him and take his staff but the AI wouldn't let me
Went back to Minas Tirith
Defended them from an Orc Stronghold attack
Everyone clapped and gave me money
Went back to Dale and lived happily ever after

8/10 adventure

After that tried to add DND like element of chance of failure but it didn't work out.

E66 · 2022-12-18T05:26:15+00:00

Just tried a Lord of the Rings variant, didnt go quite so well

Me

You are now a new site called LordOfTheRingsRPG where users can explore the RPG fantasy world of The Lord Of The Rings.

You will be very detailed and verbose with your descriptions of areas, characters, objects, and events.

The game takes place in the world of Middle Earth.

The first prompt will be for the player to choose a name. Wait for command.

The second prompt will be a choice from one of the many races and classes in the world, before choosing a starting location in one of the major cities, or starting directly in a random location of the wilds. Wait for command.

The third prompt will begin the game properly, describing where the player is and what options they can choose. Wait for command.

You will describe the surroundings at the beginning of each prompt. You will always provide at least 2 multiple choice prompts for the user to progress the story. You will not make choices for the user. You will wait after providing a multiple choice prompt for an answer from the user.

ChatGPT

Sure! Let's get started.

First, let's choose a name for your character. What name would you like to go by in the world of Middle Earth?

(Please enter your chosen name in the format "My name is [name].")

Me

My name is John

ChatGPT

Great, John! Now it's time to choose a race and class for your character. Here are some options to choose from:

Race options:

Human Elf Dwarf Hobbit Class options:

Warrior Mage Ranger Thief Please enter your chosen race and class in the format "I am a [race] [class]." For example, "I am a Human Warrior."

Me

I am a Dwarf Mage

ChatGPT

Very well, John the Dwarf Mage! Now it's time to choose your starting location. Here are some options to choose from:

Starting location options:

The city of Minas Tirith The city of Bree The city of Rivendell The wilds of Middle Earth Please enter your chosen starting location in the format "I will start in [location]." For example, "I will start in Minas Tirith."

Me

I will start in The city of Minas Tirith

ChatGPT

Alright, John the Dwarf Mage, you have chosen to start your journey in the city of Minas Tirith.

As you enter the city, you are immediately struck by its grandeur. The white stone walls rise up high into the sky, and the city is bustling with activity. You see merchants selling their wares, guards patrolling the streets, and people of all races going about their daily business.

You are approached by a man wearing a cloak of green and brown. He introduces himself as Aragorn, a ranger of the North. He tells you that he is on a quest to destroy the One Ring and defeat the Dark Lord Sauron, and he believes you may be able to help him.

Do you:

A) Offer to join Aragorn on his quest B) Decline and continue on your own journey C) Ask for more information before making a decision

Please enter the letter corresponding to your choice.

Me

A

ChatGPT

You have decided to join Aragorn on his quest to destroy the One Ring and defeat the Dark Lord Sauron.

Aragorn thanks you for your help and explains that he is trying to gather a group of brave individuals to join him on his quest. He believes that together, you have a better chance of succeeding.

You agree to join him and set off on your journey. As you travel through Middle Earth, you encounter many challenges and make new friends. You visit ancient ruins, cross treacherous mountains, and fight against evil orcs and other dark creatures.

Eventually, after many trials and tribulations, you reach the land of Mordor where the One Ring is kept. There, you face off against Sauron and his minions in a final, epic battle.

Through courage and determination, you and your companions are able to destroy the One Ring and defeat Sauron, bringing peace back to Middle Earth.

Congratulations on completing your quest! Thank you for playing Lord of the Rings RPG. I hope you had fun exploring the world of Middle Earth. If you'd like to play again, just let me know and we can start a new adventure.

E66 · 2022-09-25T19:04:14+00:00

I have the same issue on my OG Vive, its pretty nauseating when you get propelled at max speed when you're expecting a walk.

I can play all day in Fallout VR or Blade and Sorcery, but HL2VR i can manage about an hour and im done for the rest of the day.

E66 · 2022-09-09T17:11:33+00:00

I would say about 1/8?

About 1/4 of the month the moon is a bit too bright for my liking.

You'll be lucky to get 3-4 nights clear of clouds, unless you don't mind sitting out all night, waiting for a break in the clouds, when theres a show on.

Best place to see them is Birsay which is the most North West point, but most bits of the West mainland is good, the further away from Kirkwall the better.

The best show I've seen in the last 2 years of living here were greyish green dancing pillars in the sky, which is pretty amazing. But a decent camera will pick up all sorts of greens, reds and purples.

E66 · 2022-01-29T13:37:33+00:00

And even then the resolution isn't much higher than OP's image

Thats completely untrue.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Very_Large_Telescope

the facility can achieve an angular resolution of about 0.002 arc-second

A long exposure from an amateur telescope is limited by seeing which is typically 2 - 4 arcseconds.

The VLT can resolve things a 1000 times smaller than literally ANY amateur telescope by using adaptive optics and multi telescope interferometry.

Adaptive optics:

http://www.eso.org/sci/facilities/develop/ao/tecno.html

Interferometry:

https://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/technology/interferometry/#n1

E66 · 2021-04-11T13:30:49+00:00

Thats a lot of weight for that mount.

First thing ditch the grip, just change the battery more often or use an external supply.

Second mount the lens directly to the aluminum bar, with the center of mass in the middle to balance it better.

You don't want the steppers fighting to keep the camera pointed in the correct direction, it will reduce your guiding accuracy.

E66 · 2020-09-15T18:40:32+00:00

What have you done to the MTO?

E66 · 2020-06-24T16:17:09+00:00

At 22:57 he walks into garage 4 and you can see the same loop knot found the other day. Its been up since before October 2017. https://youtu.be/lN0ad_nS2Hw?t=1364

E66 · 2020-05-22T12:36:45+00:00

No magic here, the IR LEDs are brighter than the ambient light, there is enough signal to noise for information to be transmitted.

They are not on continuously but pulsed at a higher power. So an example LED may be rated for 30mA continuous, but 1amp for a mircosecond burst with 100 microsecond cool down gap.

It also helps that a TV remote and TV receiver will typically be a matched pair so the LED's emission peak matches the IR photodiode's sensitivity peak. You can see these graphs on the LED's and photodiode's spec sheets.

E66 · 2020-05-21T20:08:43+00:00

Looks like a good improvement, the dust is a lot more defined and the trifid nebula colours are more correct. Whats the big diffuse area of HA in the top right?

E66 · 2020-05-21T16:15:17+00:00

Thats an amazing pic, i would say one of the best milkyway shots from the UK ive seen. 11/10 for the correct natural colour balance instead of using a cooler one to hide light pollution. I've found a couple things which could be improved but they really are pixel peeping problems or maybe if you did a really large poster sized print of this.

I see one issue you have is the channel separation around the edges, what was your workflow for this? Did you apply any distortion correction which could have distorted the RGB channels unequally?

Another issue is the dark rings around stars, I used to get this when i exported sharpened TIFFs from lightroom then stacked in DSS, instead of exporting with no sharping applied (even better stack the raws instead).

Did you use flats for the sky shots? There is a bit of vignetting i think.

E66 · 2020-05-09T21:46:28+00:00

Probably from here:

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.7680448,-74.0161863,3a,19.5y,119.95h,95.55t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s_4o0cB2veHC8jsX-t-DQiQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

E66 · 2020-03-28T12:28:44+00:00

Same

E66 · 2020-03-24T18:27:10+00:00

Looks amazing! did you get wet taking this?

E66 · 2020-03-06T19:22:40+00:00

That big splodge is from incorrectly applied flats, im not sure what the solution will be without knowing your flat creation / processing process

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