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v-olivaceus.bsky.social
Vireo Olivaceus 🍁🇺🇦
@v-olivaceus.bsky.social
170 followers 370 following 340 posts
#Conservation #Birds #Astronomy #Accessibility
Democracy w/out bigotry.
Avatar: V. olivaceus, greenish/yellowish songbird w/dark eye-stripe, reddish eyes. Derived from https://flic.kr/p/2jGDP cc BY-NC
Banner: Great Blue Heron over pond at dusk (my photo).
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v-olivaceus.bsky.social
To Ford, forest fires smell like love🤦 Leaders’ statement didn’t mention
#ClimateChange, possibly “…doubling of the amount of area burned by the end of this century, compared with amounts burned in recent decades” (per Govt of #Canada) natural-resources.canada.ca/forest-fores...
#CDNpoli #ONpoli
Map of forest fire smoke covering a huge swath of North America, blown SE from northern areas of Canada. Core fire area exceeds 250 micrograms of 2.5-micron particulate matter (PM 2.5) per cubic meter of air. Screenshot from firesmoke.ca. Forecast date snd time: 2025-06-03, 1:00:00 PM.
June 3, 2025 at 9:25 PM
v-olivaceus.bsky.social
#eBird servers under heavy load from #WorldMigratoryBirdDay?
#WMBD
Screenshot showing the time 1:29 and http://ebird.org/ebird/home in a mobile browser address bar, with the error message, “Bad Gateway” as the only thing that the browser displays. (White text on black background.)
May 10, 2025 at 5:34 PM
v-olivaceus.bsky.social
1988: FTA. Opponents: Cdn independence at risk.
1994: NAFTA. Opponents: Cdn H2O at risk.
2020: USMCA - ‘cause Trump.
2025: Trump’s 25% tariffs to try to annex Cda by economic force & get Cdn water.
Images: 1. Anti-free-trade button from 1980s. 2. My remix for avatar image - pls share.
#CDNpoli
Round button with US flag, red maple leaf added to stars, with words below: “no, eh.” H/T MacKay Cartoons for the button image. US flag with red maple leaf added to stars, crossed out by the words “no, eh” between parallel black lines.
February 3, 2025 at 3:07 AM
v-olivaceus.bsky.social
The Orion Nebula tonight. Seestar S-5. Light haze in upper atmosphere, Bortle 7 skies. Total exposure time: 9:40 (min:sec). Enhanced in iOS Photos > Edit. Cold night (0C) for a small astronomy club gathering but worth it for the mutual learning. Also, somewhat clear skies, finally!
#astrophotography
Dark sky with stars and a small, reddish nebula, separated by a dark gap from a large, yellowish nebula. The latter’ side near the reddish nebula is bright, getting darker, redder and more diffuse further away.
January 31, 2025 at 3:50 AM
v-olivaceus.bsky.social
My favourite 2024 picture is actually a 5-sec. video. I hope it’s OK to add it here. It shows the partial lunar eclipse of Sept. 18, stop-motion made by my Seestar S-50, 1 frame per minute. Getting all this at the tap of a button felt almost magical.
December 28, 2024 at 12:48 AM
v-olivaceus.bsky.social
The letter opposing the use of the Notwithstanding Clause, with the full OCR’d content in the alt text.

Apologies in advance for any OCR errors that I may have missed.

#ONpoli
Statement from a Coalition of Municipal and Regional Councillors On the Use of the Notwithstanding Clause to Clear Encampments On October 31, the Mayors of 13 Ontario municipalities publicly released a letter to Premier Doug Ford regarding provincial support for action on encampments. This letter requests that the Premier use the Notwithstanding Clause to “[intervene] on any court case that restricts the ability of municipalities to regulate and prohibit encampments” — even when there is nowhere else for people to go. In 2023, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice struck down a Region of Waterloo encampment By-Law. The presiding Justice Michael J. Valente found that the By-Law violated encampment residents’ Charter-protected right to life, liberty, and security of the person (Section 7) as a result of a lack of adequate shelter beds. As individual Councillors in our respective municipalities, we know that Ontario municipalities are facing a humanitarian crisis that is affecting all of us. We see it every day in our communities But no municipality should be above the law, and we are sworn to uphold democracy and human rights as Councillors. We are also concerned that Councillors in the 13 municipalities named — now expanded to 15 — were not consulted prior to this letter being made public. We are elected by our constituents to represent their interests, but we cannot do this without the opportunity for input and democratic debate at the municipal level. We also note that this letter represents a break among the 29 municipalities that comprise the Ontario Big City Mayors (OBCM) caucus. The caucus did not support the use of the notwithstanding clause in the final draft of its motion requesting support for addressing homelessness and - encampments from the Premier. As well, the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) — which represents 444 municipalities — released policy recommendations advocating for evidence- based and effective solutions that address the… Statement from a Coalition of Municipal and Regional Councillors On the Use of the Notwithstanding Clause to Clear Encampments Signatures (Continued) Erin Caton, Councillor, Guelph, Ward 1 Glen Gower, Councillor, Ottawa, Ward 6 — Stittsville Greg Miller, Councillor, St. Catharines, Merritton Hadleigh McAlister, Councillor, London, Ward 1 Haley Bateman, Councillor, Niagara Region, St. Catharines Janet-Lynne Durnford, Councillor, Orillia, Ward 4 Jay Fallis, Councillor, Orillia, Ward 3 Jeff Leiper, Councillor, Ottawa, Ward 15 — Kitchissippi Jennifer Shaw, Deputy Mayor, Arran-Elderslie Joel Loughead, Councillor, Grey Highlands John Thompson, Councillor, Town of Goderich Kathryn Desrosiers, Councillor, Aylmer Kelsie Van Belleghem, Councillor, Kenora Laine Johnson, Councillor, Ottawa, Ward 8 — College Lindsay Koch, Councillor, Kenora Lindsay Wilson, Deputy Mayor, Ingersoll Liz Petrie, Councillor, Town of Goderich Lori Lococo, City Councillor, Niagara Falls Marty Carr, Councillor, Ottawa, Ward 18 — Alta Vista Morgaine Griffin, Councillor, Central Elgin, Ward 2. Nadia Dubyk, Councillor, Grey Highlands Nrinder Nann, Councillor, Hamilton, Ward 3 Pam Wolf, Councillor, Region of Waterloo, Cambridge Paul Ainslie, Councillor, Toronto, Ward 24 — Scarborough-Guildwood Randy Carroll, Councillor, Town of Goderich Robert Deutschmann, Councillor, Regional Municipality of Waterloo Ross Earnshaw, Councillor, City of Cambridge, Ward 4 Sam Trosow, Councillor, London, Ward 6 Skylar Franke, Councillor, London, Ward 11 Tammy Hwang, Councillor, Hamilton, Ward 4 Tara McCaulley, Councillor, St. Thomas Trevor Bazinet, Mayor, Town of Goderich [End of page 2 of 2.]
November 19, 2024 at 3:44 AM
v-olivaceus.bsky.social
Stellarium app shows Venus in waning gibbous phase, not a fully-lit circle tonight. See also www.skymarvels.com/infopages/vi... My images in the original post above show a different object or they are wrong in some other way. Still trying to figure out.
#astrophotography
Simulated image of Venus at 18:09 local time tonight. Screenshot from Stellarium app. Yellowish part circle with faint streaks on a dark background. Approximately a third of the planet’s circle is dark, on the the upper left.
November 13, 2024 at 4:55 AM
v-olivaceus.bsky.social
Prob.#BadAstronomy (amateur div.), but honestly want to know what I did wrong w/my Seestar S-50. #Venus was setting this eve. Posting all my shots. “Halo” effect prob. from ice/haze in Earth atm. But dark spot & streaks? Lens dust, synced by tracking?
@philplait.bsky.social
#astrophotography
Telescope view of Venus (small yellow circle on dark sky). Thin “halo” effect around circles. Small dark dot in circle, near edge, at approximately “11 o’clock” location. Same as 1st image but magnified x4 by telescope software (digital zoom only). “Halo” and dark spot more prominent. Darkish streak extends from spot to near center of circle. Slightly dark area possible also around “1 o’clock” position near circle edge. Same object partly obscured by tree branch. Dark spot and streat still visible. Same object with tree branch obscuring middle, at abt. 45 deg. angle, from top right to bottom left. Small part of object visible below the branch, near bottom right. Dark spot still visible on object, above and to the left of the branch.
November 13, 2024 at 4:27 AM
v-olivaceus.bsky.social
Digital artefacts, naive auto- stacking of images by telescope, me over-processing the image - what else could cause “broken” look? Would be interesting to compare w/other observations on bsky & elsewhere. For now, here’s the original auto-stacked image from telescope, without any of my enhancement
Same comet description as in the original post, except the colour is more muted, and the nucleus area seems to include a number of bright “dots” lined up along the comet’s line of motion.
October 17, 2024 at 3:21 AM
v-olivaceus.bsky.social
Second attempt: #comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) tonight. Seestar S-50 smart telescope. 13:00 min. total time (auto-stacked from 10-sec. images). Enhanced in iOS Photos > Edit (increased contrast, colour vibrance, etc.)

Is elongated-looking nucleus normal or interesting?
#astrophotography
A comet on a dark, starry night sky. The bright comet nucleus (which looks somewhat elongated) is near bottom left, with the tail extending and widening, while gradually fading, towards the top left.
October 17, 2024 at 2:21 AM
v-olivaceus.bsky.social
#Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) tonight, Seestar S-50 smart telescope, default and increased colour saturation.
A bright comet with its head near the bottom right and the tail, extending up, towards the top left, against a black sky with some stars. Same comment as in the previous photo but with the tail looking orange due to increased colour saturation.
October 17, 2024 at 12:11 AM
v-olivaceus.bsky.social
For comparison, here’s my image of the Triangulum Galaxy (M 33), using the Serstar, cropped and enhanced in iOS Photos > Edit. I enjoyed the process but results with other telescopes are better.
A spiral galaxy about halfway between edge on and top view, so it looks somewhat elliptical in overall shape. The Galaxy extends approximately from top left to bottom right of the frame. The galaxy’s centre looks bright, and the overall appearance of the galaxy is dusty. Bright dots of light outline the inner spiral arms. The two outer spiral arms of the galaxy extend noticeably the words the top left and bottom, right, outside of the main illuminated area.
October 8, 2024 at 2:36 AM
v-olivaceus.bsky.social
Time lapse video: tonight‘s partial lunar #eclipse. Produced by Seastar S-50 telescope from photos that it took 1 minute apart, approx 9:45 PM - 12:15 AM Eastern Time. Shows increase, movement and diminishment of the shadow that the #Earth cast over the top part of the #Moon.
#astrophotography
September 18, 2024 at 4:31 AM
v-olivaceus.bsky.social
Only the penumbra (the larger, later shadow) and maybe a tiny bit of the umbrella (the smaller, darker shadow) seem to remain in the top right part of the moon circle.
For Alt Text, please see the first few photos in this thread.
September 18, 2024 at 3:52 AM
v-olivaceus.bsky.social
At 11:45 PM Eastern time, only the penumbra (the outer, lighter shadow) and maybe a tiny bit of the umbrella (a smaller, darker shadow) seem to be present in the top right area. This is my last image in this series tonight.
For Alt Text, please see the first few photos in this thread.
September 18, 2024 at 3:47 AM
v-olivaceus.bsky.social
Tonight’s partial lunar eclipse seems to be ending. The shadow is diminishing and moving further to the top right. These photos were taken at 11:34 PM and 11:39 PM Eastern Time.
For Alt Text, please see the photos in the previous posts in this thread. For alt text, please see the photos in the previous posts in this thread.
September 18, 2024 at 3:44 AM
v-olivaceus.bsky.social
Tonight‘s partial lunar #eclipse is gradually diminishing. The shadow at 11:16 PM Eastern Time is smaller, and is now at approximately the 1 o’clock position on the #Moon circle. (Same telescope and file type as above.)
For Alt Text, please see the previous photos in this thread.
September 18, 2024 at 3:23 AM
v-olivaceus.bsky.social
Tonight’s partial lunar #eclipse at 11:05 PM Eastern time. The shadow on the #Moon is moving from the top middle to the top right. (Same file type and telescope as above.)
For Alt Text, please see the previous photos in this thread. The only change is that the shadow is moving over to the top right area of the Moon’s circle.
September 18, 2024 at 3:10 AM
v-olivaceus.bsky.social
Tonight’s partial lunar eclipse is progressing. Note that the darkened area has now moved to approximately the top of the circle of the moon. Evidence that Earth is round as it casts a curved shadow :-)
Photo taken at 10:52 PM Eastern time. (Same type of image file from the same telescope as above.)
A photo of a full moon, a a bright circle on a black background, with part of the circle’s top area darkened by a curved shadow that gets darker towards the upper edge of the circle.
September 18, 2024 at 2:59 AM
v-olivaceus.bsky.social
Another photo of the #moon during tonight’s partial lunar #eclipse, this one at 10:29 PM Eastern time. Another unenhanced JPEG, directly from the same telescope. The darkened area looks larger to me than in the first photo in this thread.
A photo of a bright full moon, a circle on a black background, with part of the circle’s top right area darkened by a curved shadow that gets darker towards the upper right. The shadow is somewhat larger than in the previous photo in this thread.
September 18, 2024 at 2:34 AM
v-olivaceus.bsky.social
The #moon during tonight’s partial lunar #eclipse. Note the darkened area in the upper right. Taken at 10:16 PM Eastern time using my Seestar S-50 telescope. Unenhanced JPEG.

#astrophotography
A photo of a bright full moon, a circle on a black background, with part of the circle’s top right area darkened by a curved shadow that gets darker towards the upper right.
September 18, 2024 at 2:24 AM
v-olivaceus.bsky.social
The #Moon, the #Earth and a Great Blue Heron.
Not sure if it’s about #astrophotography, #birds or the unity of #nature.

Please excuse if you think it’s off-topic for any of the hashtags.
Photo of a calm pond at dusk, surrounded with trees and bushes, with the Moon above, reflected in the water, and a Great Blue Heron bird, in silhouette, coming in for a landing, with wings and legs outstretched. The bird is also reflected in the water, with feet looking like they almost touch the feet of the reflection.
September 15, 2024 at 12:36 AM
v-olivaceus.bsky.social
So the early universe was just an 8-bit Caterpillar game? (See comparison with prior art, below.) Obviously, there have been a few upgrades since then, but whoever runs it cannot fool us now that we’ve seen v.1.0 of the software - it’s clear that we live in a simulation :-)
Screenshot of Blursky message at https://bsky.app/profile/jwstfeed.bsky.social/post/3kwm57soo5i2q Screenshot of an 8-bit style (very pixelated) green caterpillar image. It has two big eyes. A small pink 8-bit style flower is on its right. Source: https:// www.vecteezy.com/ vector-art/12664691-pixel-8-bit-caterpillar-animals-for-game-assets-in-vector-illustration
July 6, 2024 at 10:33 PM
v-olivaceus.bsky.social
I had feedback that the original image from the telescope may be better, or at least preferable for some, so here it is.

Gives a sense of how small M 104 looks in our sky. Zooming in on it can be fun, too - almost like in a sci-fi movie :-)
Distance ~ 31.1 M light-years.

#Astrophotography
Starry sky with a small-looking Sombrero Galaxy (M 104) near the middle of the image. The sky background is not completely dark due to some haze and/or light pollution that the telescope’s built-in filter could not remove completely.
June 1, 2024 at 9:03 PM
v-olivaceus.bsky.social
M 104 (Sombrero Galaxy)
31 May 2024

Seestar S-50 smart telescope.
Bortle 8 (very light-polluted) skies.
Image was auto-stacked (combined) by the telescope from 563 x 10 second exposures (about 1.56 hours).
Cropped and enhanced manually in iOS Photos > Edit.

#Astrophotography
An elliptical or disk-shaped galaxy, seen almost edge-on, with a very bright central bulge, a bright disk around it, and a very prominent dark band of dust on the outer edge of the disk, overall resembling a Sombrero hat. Also, a foreground star (seen as a small circle), somewhat dimmer than the more distant galaxy, almost directly above the middle of the galaxy’s bulge.
June 1, 2024 at 5:10 AM