The best part of Systems Engineering was diving into trade studies as an analytical method to choose between competing architectures. The most annoying part is the over reliance on complex models for intuitive mental frameworks. For example, this image is the “Systems Engineering Mindset”:

Thanks to the Canada Post strike, this was my first and only Christmas card. Thanks Celestron!

So long California. Until next time…

Tonight’s magical sunset. Our last night in Carmel until next December.

I don’t get it. But I did take this photo earlier today. #birds

How a $350 Smart Telescope tracks a drone. #SeestarS30.

Here’s me several years ago testing a handheld rig that could photograph the ISS, an airplane or drone: 8 inch Newtonian, DSLR with remote shutter, 2x Barlow, Rigel QuikFinder. Set focus using a bright star or distant street light, start with 6400 ISO and exp of about 1/1600.

Phone cameras are amazing. The dynamic range between the bright clouds and background stars (Jupiter near Auriga, and then Orion), is just mind boggling. #CityStargazing

Interesting how Unistellar’s “vivid vision technology” chooses to process the stars. This is an image of Open Cluster M38 taken a few days ago from the backyard.

A very out of focus Sirius (star) looks exactly like a Plasma Lamp. This is using a 100mm refractor and a planetary imaging camera. I’ve had two calls about this star from folks believing it is a UFO.

It was about minus 5 degrees Celsius in the observatory at the time. A very cold endeavour!

Putting these “Smart” telescopes to the test for an upcoming video. What are your thoughts on electronically assisted astronomy (EAA)? (Specifically eyepieces that are actually screens)

A relatively quiet day on the surface of the Sun.
(Unistellar Odyssey telescope with solar filter). #Astronomy

I have pretty much every telescope and have a chart I use to help answer this question. Here is my 2024 edition.

Not sure what to post on here so here is a photo of our kitchen from today. When filming YouTube videos, I just add so many telescopes you can’t tell I’m in the kitchen.