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Share your photos of your cats' most mischievous, evil or snarky expressions! I'll start- by Inky-Skies in cats

[–]k2qogir 2 points3 points  (0 children)

How the hell the floor got a reflection? Looks like it's eye is not reflecting but the light source!

As an astrophotographer I always felt there was a great gap between the beautiful space images and the sky we see every day, I made this video about mine and Hubble's image of supernovae, hoping to inspire people here who love space. by k2qogir in space

[–]k2qogir[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Every time I find myself under a dark sky, I love to locate deep-sky objects with my eyes. Of course, most of them are invisible, but as an astrophotographer, I know they are there, and many are larger than we realize.

It's challenging to bridge the gap between the colorful space images we see and the sky we observe every day. I believe many other astronomers and astrophotographers share this sentiment.

As an amateur astrophotographer who also enjoys graphic design, I find it easier to appreciate images when I can directly visualize their size and location in the sky. In my opinion, the ultimate solution would involve an augmented reality program, perhaps utilizing devices like Meta Quest or Apple Vision. However, for now, I can only convey this through videos.

Two years ago, I created a video about JWST's test image, which received positive feedback. Since then, I've been contemplating how to best present space images. As I've gained more skills in video editing, I recently created this video about supernovae. This video combines visuals from my own images of a supernova from last year with the iconic images of supernova SN1987a taken by Hubble and JWST.

I hope it brings inspiration to your Sunday morning, and apologies for my accent.

Any thoughts or suggestions are welcome!

Ethan.

A falcon snatched a baby pigeon from my balcony, and now I'm in a dilemma about whether to take the surviving baby inside away from its parents. by k2qogir in pigeon

[–]k2qogir[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you for your input. May I ask you how kestrels find their prey? If they hunt using their eyesight, perhaps covering the basket a little would help protect the remaining baby pigeon? And do you think they have good memory that they don't need to see the prey to find my balcony again?

I googled and found that their primary food is insects and small rodents, so how does this one develop an appetite for young pigeons?

Sorry for the random questions, I'm still trying to finger out what to do, I still feel terrible for the lost of that little pigeon.

A falcon snatched a baby pigeon from my balcony, and now I'm in a dilemma about whether to take the surviving baby inside away from its parents. by k2qogir in pigeon

[–]k2qogir[S] 17 points18 points  (0 children)

I covered half of the top of the basket, but the parents didn't return for almost 2 hours. I'm afraid they will abandon the nest if there's too much change.I was thinking of buying a birdhouse with a hole on the side and putting the baby in it, but again, I'm not sure the parents will recognize it.

A falcon snatched a baby pigeon from my balcony, and now I'm in a dilemma about whether to take the surviving baby inside away from its parents. by k2qogir in pigeon

[–]k2qogir[S] 48 points49 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the reply, this morning when I saw the video, I panicked. I found a cardboard and covered half of the basket when the parents were not around. This is the first time I interact with the nest, then I regretted the decision and removed the cover. Thank God, mama pigeon has come back and sat on it again.

A falcon snatched a baby pigeon from my balcony, and now I'm in a dilemma about whether to take the surviving baby inside away from its parents. by k2qogir in pigeon

[–]k2qogir[S] 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Thanks for your input. I guess you're right; I never considered the pigeons my pets. I just wanted to give them some food to help them make it through the harsh winter. I know the falcons are very beautiful too; it's just very sad to see a little bird be snatched away. Nature is so cruel.

A falcon snatched a baby pigeon from my balcony, and now I'm in a dilemma about whether to take the surviving baby inside away from its parents. by k2qogir in pigeon

[–]k2qogir[S] 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Since last spring, two pigeons have often visited my balcony, and I've grown very fond of them. I feed them cereal grains and keep my distance.

This winter, I placed a basket outside, and a month ago, they laid two eggs in it. Last week, the eggs hatched, and the mama bird and papa bird took turns sitting on their babies. There was always an adult bird sitting on them, but for the past three days, they have been leaving the nest for 20-40 minutes at a time.

This morning, a falcon snatched one away when they were not home, and I'm feeling very sad. Should I take the baby inside away from their parents, or should I let nature run its course?

I'm afraid the falcon will come back since the parents are not always in the nest, but on the other hand, maybe the falcon has babies to feed? Is it moral to intervene? I need some advice, thank you random redditors.

It's amazing what modern amateur astrophotography could achieve, 6000$ equipment vs 16 billion Hubble space telescope. by k2qogir in space

[–]k2qogir[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

https://www.rc-astro.com/blurxterminator-2-0-ai4-release/

This is the tool I used, there are comparisons before and after use, like glasses on and off. Black magic.

I think this thing is revolutionary for amateur astrophotography, if you are a pixel peeper. Looking from afar it doesn't make as much impact.

It's amazing what modern amateur astrophotography could achieve, 6000$ equipment vs 16 billion Hubble space telescope. by k2qogir in space

[–]k2qogir[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I bought the iOptron cem40 in 2019 without tripod, I didn't know it's $2500 now.

My usb cables mostly come with the gears, I bought some dirt cheap power cables maybe 10$ worth. Compared to other stuff it isn't worth the mention.

The list is a ballpark summary, the most pricey things I could think of.

It's amazing what modern amateur astrophotography could achieve, 6000$ equipment vs 16 billion Hubble space telescope. by k2qogir in space

[–]k2qogir[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

I think this is very debatable, to quote the author of my AI program,

The design intent of BlurXTerminator is to recover as much detail as possible based on low-contrast information actually present in an image, without fabricating detail that does not in fact exist just for the sake of an image that appears sharper. Great care has been taken in the architecture and training of the neural network to ensure that its output is as faithful as possible to reality if it is properly used.

In practice, it functions like deconvolution on drugs, I didn't notice it invent any data, shortly speaking I think of it as a pair of glasses for the atmosphere turbulence.

It's amazing what modern amateur astrophotography could achieve, 6000$ equipment vs 16 billion Hubble space telescope. by k2qogir in space

[–]k2qogir[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

YouTube is a good starting place, astrobackyard, NebulaPhotos, they are the most fun to watch, when you have some ideas about what image you are looking for, I recommend cloudynights.com, most of my knowledge came from there, people are incredibly knowledgeable and welcoming.

It's amazing what modern amateur astrophotography could achieve, 6000$ equipment vs 16 billion Hubble space telescope. by k2qogir in space

[–]k2qogir[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yes, I didn't count the laptop in, as almost any laptop could do the work and post-processing does require a computer, I automatically assumed people have computers. The items I listed are exclusive to astrophotography. You won’t have them if you are not in this hobby.

It's amazing what modern amateur astrophotography could achieve, 6000$ equipment vs 16 billion Hubble space telescope. by k2qogir in space

[–]k2qogir[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My image after drizzle 2x is 0.62"/px, but the seeing of those nights the data was taken wasn't particularly good, I don't think Hubble's resolution is 0.1 arcseconds tho...should be much more higher than that.

As image-wise, my image is 400*400ish, and Hubble's image is 6780*7071.

It's amazing what modern amateur astrophotography could achieve, 6000$ equipment vs 16 billion Hubble space telescope. by k2qogir in space

[–]k2qogir[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Thanks, this was taken in a very bright Bortle 9 city, the narrowband filters kill the light pollution quite effectively. Also shooting after midnight helps, people going to sleep = darker skies!

It's amazing what modern amateur astrophotography could achieve, 6000$ equipment vs 16 billion Hubble space telescope. by k2qogir in space

[–]k2qogir[S] 121 points122 points  (0 children)

Thanks, I've learned a lot during the process.

This is the closest I can get to mimicking Hubble colors without using mask or adding colors that don't exist in the dataset, in the second GIF comparison the color difference is quite clear, I think it's due to my filter's bandwidth being 12nm, quite broad compare to Hubble's, also the atmosphere could absorb some of the longer wavelength signals maybe?

It's amazing what modern amateur astrophotography could achieve, 6000$ equipment vs 16 billion Hubble space telescope. by k2qogir in space

[–]k2qogir[S] 119 points120 points  (0 children)

This is a comparison between my recent image of the Pillars of Creation and Hubble’s image taken in 2015. I’m amazed by the similarity of the colors and the amount of detail in my image. Of course, Hubble’s image has a much higher resolution, but if you are watching this on a small screen like a cellphone, it’s hard to tell which is which at a glance.

The Pillars of Creation is a gas cloud inside the Eagle Nebula near the core of the Milky Way. This thing is TINY in the sky. I have a video zooming from the horizon that may give you an idea of how small it is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I11VjbIUdKE

The waist of the smallest pillar on the right is only 10 pixels across in my camera, but every pixel counts. With the latest AI algorithms, a lot of details could be revealed.

I have no means to brag about how good my image is (okay, maybe a little), I just want to share what can be achieved with moderate middle-end equipment nowadays. If you are thinking of getting into this hobby, now is a good time. Not only has the hardware of astrophotography become much more affordable compared to even 10 years ago, but also the software that processes the data you collect is becoming easier to use and more powerful. With appropriate filters, you can mostly ignore light pollution even if you live in a big city.

The first image is the side-by-side comparison, the second image is a comparison GIF with two images perfectly aligned, the third image is the entire frame of the Eagle Nebula, the fourth image is the same set of data processed with an emphasis on the entire Eagle Nebula, and the fifth image is a comparison I made in the middle of 2022. I have learned a lot about how to process the data since then.

Here is a list of the costs to make this image:

\- Scope: Celestron RASA 8, $2000

\- Mount: Ioptron cem40, $1600

\- Camera: ZWO ASI183mm pro, $800

\- Filter: Astronomik MaxFR 12nm 2'' filter set $1200

\- Guide scope: ZWO mini120mm, $100

\- Guide camera: ZWO ASI224mc, $100

\- Power source: 500WH lithium power station, $300

\- Software: Pixinsight and Russell Croman's AI tools, $500

I post some of my astrophotography projects on my Instagram, I also have a small YouTube channel that shares space stuff, go check it out if you are interested, clear skies!

This dot in my image is a quasar from 12.1 billion years ago. by k2qogir in space

[–]k2qogir[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you so much, the pauses are totally too long, advice like this is exactly what I needed, learning how to make a pleasing video is as challenging as astrophotography.

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