sam β π¬πͺ
@sam@chven.us
sam β π¬πͺ
@sam@chven.us
Alt...
(Old painting of a smiling woman holding a fan) I just learned the professional way to say "I told you so": "This was identified early on as a likely outcome."
So Iβm freshly on Linux (Mint) and would like to manage the music on my iShuffle, to which I have an emotional attachment despite a desire to get away from Apple in general. Iβd like to access my iTunes library but am willing to let it go and make a fresh start if need beβalthough Iβm guessing iTunes is required for use of the iShuffle . . . ? I see there are ways to put iTunes on Linux, but at a glance it looks complicated. Whatβs my best approach?
@sam
Okay, thank you! My brain is fried for the night but Iβll look into it when itβs not. π
OH yeah love ending my workday with a surprise National Geographic interview about the Saturn moons that I helped discover by accidentally pointing the CFHT telescope at Saturn. Definitely my most scientifically productive whoopsie ever.
128!!!! New!!! MOONS!!
Happy Moon Day!
@sundogplanets
What defines a moon?
Is there a minimum size limit or some other property?
Obviously, the small fragments that make up Saturn's rings don't count as moons.
Do we have orbital parameters for these new moons?
Names?
@AkaSci @sundogplanets Obi-wan defines what a moon is. π
@AkaSci Paper here with some of them (I'm not a co-author, just an observer, whoopsie) https://arxiv.org/pdf/2503.07081
There's another paper coming soon, possibly tomorrow.
All led by Edward Ashton, a very talented postdoc at ASIAA!
@AkaSci And yeah, this is definitely going to push to some kind of Pluto situation where the IAU is going to have to define a moon!
@sundogplanets @AkaSci I vaguely recall that the reporting on Sputnik back in the late 50s said things like "Earth has a second moon now". But assuming we don't want to say that Saturn has billions of moons (in the rings) I guess there has to be a limit.
To be very clear, I am really truly only involved in this discovery by accidentally pointing the telescope at Saturn when I was trying to look for TNOs. Edward Ashton, Brett Gladman, Mike Alexandersen, and Jean-Marc Petit did all the work!
@sundogplanets SIXTY-FOUR new Saturn moons?!?! That's *amazing*.
@sundogplanets Better than causing people to think there are aliens in specific galaxies because you were heating up your lunch in the microwave?
Someone already updated Wikipedia! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moons_of_Saturn
I love wikipedians.
@sundogplanets You made Dr Kirsten Banks very happy. :) :)https://www.instagram.com/reel/DHE95vNhrBf/
@sundogplanets super congrats!! So you get your own moon or moonlet, right?!? There arenβt enough mythological names? Love the use of βmoon-on-moon violenceβ
I've had like 3 co-workers text or email me about this interview this morning, so I guess I should share it. This is the one that I thought was for radio so I didn't even brush my hair. New rule for myself: always assume it's a video interview!
Came out pretty good though, overall I'm happy with it
Brilliant! This is an excellent piece ππ
What's so good about your way of talking to people is that you come across as so approachable, so human, and that you ABSOLUTELY KNOW what you're talking about because you have researched and researched and researched!
Your words are worth listening to/reading π
@sundogplanets I dunno, Doc. A scientist who is so busy sciencing that they do their press as-is has its own authentic charm. Great clip!
Amazingly talented fediverse astrophotographers: gorgeous, perfectly exposed and processed telescope images
Me, a professional astronomer: accidentally points a 4 meter telescope at Saturn for a series of 5 minute exposures
Alt...
A really messy black and white image with an extremely bright, overexposed thing in the centre and bright vertical smudges bleeding up and down because all the pixels have filled with electrons and spilled over. This is a tiny part of a Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Megacam full camera field.
@sundogplanets Maybe you found some more moons. π
@sundogplanets
Well... I guess they're not going to let you point the JWST anytime soon...
@sundogplanets Science isn't always cosmetically pretty!
@sundogplanets I think you caught it! :)
@sundogplanets That is spectacular!
@sundogplanets I'm sure a little Russ Croman magic in PixInsight will clean that right up! πͺ
During my first own observing run (ESO Danish 1.5m telescope on La Silla), which I meticulously prepared, I only learned mid 1st night that I was expected to focus the telescope.
@knud oh nooooo! That makes me feel better.
@sundogplanets So this Saturn photobomb was instrumental in the new moons discovery? π₯° As a photographer I find this incredibly delightful. As a photography podcaster, I wish I could, in good conscience, steal 20 minutes of your valuable time so you could tell me and my audience of photo nerds about it.
@sundogplanets π€£ It could still be an album cover!
@sundogplanets Take the credit. Many scientific discoveries were accidents. The *male* scientists did not hesitate to claim the credit.
@anne_twain I mean, I'm listed on the official discovery statements from the Minor Planet Center. So yeah, I already did take credit :)
@sundogplanets Still, fun!
@sundogplanets okay the goat selfie is an instant follow - came for astronomy, stayed for goat selfies
@sundogplanets Irregular moons are the most interesting giant planet satellites and that is a hill I will die on
@sundogplanets Genius in the errors! Goddess in (whatever you do Normally) or, -employed
@sundogplanets That's very cool.
@sundogplanets Saturn was like... screw you humans, you don't have enough deities to name all my moons! Here's 128 more lol
@sundogplanets Stone. Cold. Awesome.
@sundogplanets My favorite words in science: βhuh, thatβs weird!β
@sundogplanets Congratulations on your slight error! Incredible work! π
The largest camera ever built for astrophysics (3200-megapixels, >3000 kg) was installed this week at the Rubin Observatory at Cerro PachΓ³n in Chile.
The Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) camera, the final major component of the Rubin Observatory's Simonyi Survey Telescope, was transported to the summit in May 2024.
After a few more months of testing, first light is expected around 4 Jul 2025.
https://noirlab.edu/public/news/noirlab2511/
https://www.lsst.org/about/project-status
#Science #Astronomy #Space
1/n
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The NSFβDOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory team installing the LSST Camera on the Simonyi Survey Telescope in March 2025.
Credit: RubinObs/NOIRLab/SLAC/NSF/DOE/AURA/B. Quint
Source: https://noirlab.edu/public/images/noirlab2511m/
Here is a fascinating time-lapse video of the LSST Camera being installed on the Simonyi Survey Telescope at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory.
"The team on the summit used Rubinβs vertical platform lift to move the LSST Camera up to the telescope floor onto a transport cart. Following a carefully planned procedure, the team then used a custom lifting device to carefully position and secure the LSST Camera on the telescope."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmRwhZ3k8-g
Credit: RubinObs/NOIRLab/SLAC/NSF/DOE/AURA
2/n
The objectives of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory include -
β’ Probing dark energy and dark matter
β’ Taking an inventory of the solar system
β’ Exploring the transient optical sky
β’ Mapping the Milky Way
The LSST will image the entire visible sky every 3-4 nights, allowing it to detect objects that change in brightness or position and to discover billions of new stars and galaxies.
By comparison, SPHEREx will take 6 months for a survey of the full sky, with spectra.
Alt...
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory telescope mount in November 2023
Credit: Rubin Observatory/NSF/AURA/A. Alexov
Source: https://noirlab.edu/public/images/rubin-TMA-1-CC/
The Rubin Legacy Survey of Space and Time LSST Camera is the largest camera ever constructed for astronomy. It is a large-aperture, wide-field optical camera, capable of viewing light from the near UV to near infrared wavelengths.
Length: 4.5 m
Height: 1.65 m
Weight: 2,800 kg
Pixels: 3.2 billion
Wavelength: 0.32β1.06 ΞΌm
Filters: 6 (u-g-r-i-z-y)
Field of view = 3.5Β° (moon = 0.5Β°)
Operating temperature: -100Β°C
https://www6.slac.stanford.edu/lsst
https://www.lsst.org/about/camera/features
4/n
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A schematic of the LSST camera, with size comparison with a human being.
The focal plane of the Vera C. Rubin telescope consists of 189 4kx4k charge-coupled device (CCD) sensors, arranged in a total of 21 3-by-3 square arrays. The system is cooled to about -100 Β°C to minimize noise.
The 3.5Β° field of view of the 64 cm wide array is 40 times the area of the full moon in the sky.
Camera Data Rates: ~3.2 GBytes/sec peak raw data π²
1 pixel = 16 bits (raw)
Pixels: 3.2 billion
Detector read-out time: 2 sec
https://www.flickr.com/photos/slaclab/with/50212773953
https://www6.slac.stanford.edu/lsst
#Rubin
5/n
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1. Pic othe LSST camera focal plane and detectors during assembly and testing
Credit: Jacqueline Orrell/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/slaclab/50212763208/
2. Schematic of LSST focal plane and detectors
Source: https://www6.slac.stanford.edu/lsst
@AkaSci A veritable firehose of data. The project as a whole has, quite reasonably, been described as a high performance computing project with a telescope on the side. The telescope and camera are undeniably impressive, but the data side of things is at least as ambitious.
Sifting through that flood of images and automatically identifying, categorising and cataloguing vast numbers of astronomical objects/events, flagging particularly interesting ones for further investigation, doing so as fast as the data is coming in, and with sufficient accuracy that the astronomers aren't swamped with false positives/misidentifications, is a huge challenge.
@AkaSci I was once at a gathering where one of the builders of this camera was present (but I did not know it at the time.)
I was talking-up my new 4K video camera and he said "you should see my camera". I lost all my bragging rights.
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory Simonyi Survey Telescope consists of 3 aspheric mirrors: an 8.4-m primary mirror M1, a 3.5-m convex secondary mirror M2, and a 5.0-m tertiary mirror M3.
The primary and tertiary mirrors are fabricated from a single piece of glass.The secondary mirror (M2) is the largest convex mirror ever made.
Note the location of the 3 ton LSST camera perched below the high secondary mirror.
https://www.lsst.org/about/tel-site/optical_design
#Rubin #astronomy
6/n
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1. Schematic of the mirror assembly and optical path of the Rubin Observatory.
The hole in the tertiary mirror is used to mount equipment for maintaining precise control of Rubin Observatory's optical alignment.
2. Graphic of the assembled telescope.
Here is a fascinating video of the journey of the 3-ton LSST Camera from SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California to Rubin Observatory on the summit of Cerro PachΓ³n in Chile. The camera arrived on the summit on May 16, 2024.
The video also shows the rugged and beautiful site of the observatory and pays homage to the engineers and technicians involved in the move.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cbhl1bysCAY
Credit: RubinObs/NSF/AURA/S. Deppe/O. Bonin, T. Lange, M. Lopez, J. Orrell (SLAC National Lab)
7/n
@AkaSci I've chatted with people about the data output from the Vera Rubin observatory. It's a giant firehose of data - so much data that will take AI-related software to digest to timely notice fresh events.
@AkaSci And one more thing ... I've heard (but do not know) that the data stream from the observatory is time-embargoed or obfuscated because the US fears that the data could be used to identify and track spy satellites in near real-time.
Again, this is just something I heard, I have nothing concrete.
Asteroid name: 2010 RF12
Probability: 10.24%
Impact date: 2095-09-05.99
Asteroid name: 2017 WT28
Probability: 1.10%
Impact date: 2104-11-24.69
Source: NASA/JPL Sentry Data API
Astronomie foto van de dag: Light Pillar over Erupting Etna. Fotoinfo: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250224.html Foto Credits:
Davide CaliΓ²
#astronomie #sterrenkunde #sterrenkijken #apod #heelal
Your weird picture of Paris for the day... The smurfette as Mona Lisa, done as a mosaic.
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A mosaic of colored squares, representing a dark haired smurfette as Mona Lisa, complete with the classic pose of the original and the background representing nature.
The mosaic is framed like a painting on a white wall, with bits and pieces of other street art and tags around it.
@ParadeGrotesque that is neat.
@murena has launched its first tablet running the /e/OS operating system: https://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=showheadline&story=19949
US Gov website purge underway. CDC right now. NIH Office of Women's Health is already gone. Happening quick.
https://github.com/end-of-term/eot2024
End of Term archive backed up everything. ~260TB. If you can seed/ share, please do so
#GCompris 25.0 Open-Source Educational Suite Released with Five New Activities, Now Ported to Qt 6 https://9to5linux.com/gcompris-25-0-open-source-educational-suite-released-with-five-new-activities
@gcompris #OpenSource #FreeSoftware #education #Linux
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Screenshot of GCompris showing the main window with the activities and application menu.
CC: @Andromxda@infosec.exchange @rufposten@social.tchncs.de @accrescent@infosec.exchange
I've had a lot of people ask how BlueSky compares to Mastodon and the Fediverse. I've tried to make the answer as simple and easy to understand as possible:
π¦ BlueSky is designed to give corporations and wealthy people full control of the network. All of its traffic has to flow through expensive-to-run corporate relays.
The Fediverse is designed to give ordinary people control of the network. All of its traffic flows directly from one cheap-to-run server to another.
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Diagrams of how BlueSky and its AT Protocol functions, compared to how The Fediverse and its ActivityPub protocol functions.
BlueSky's traffic flows from servers to corporate-owned relays, and these relays communicate with each other before allowing traffic to flow to servers. The servers cannot communicate with each other at all.
The Fediverse's traffic flows directly between cheap-to-run servers, with no need for any corporate involvement.
While technically these are both forms of decentralisation, the BlueSky interpretation puts corporations, rich people and wealthy organisations in full control of the network. The Fediverse interpretation puts ordinary people in full control of the betwork.
The fedi experience
Alt...
Girl walking down a road with her hands over her ears with the words "mentioning any minor software issue" next to her. Following her down the road is a boy obnoxiously playing a trumpet at her, the words overlayed "The problem here is that you're using proprietary software and just giving your data away to corporations, what you need to do is adopt free open source..."
Wow what a view captured by Perseverance just 8 hours ago. This is probably her new science site: Witch Hazel Hill.
#Mars Dec. 16, 2024 (Sol 1359)
π· https://areo.info/mars20/ecams/1359
#Perseverance #rover #Sol1359 #WitchHazelHill #PerseveranceRover #NorthernRimCampaign #space #science #research #news #STEM #Mars2020 #geology #planetaryscience #Martian #landscape #photography #news #Astrodon
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A photography of a Martian landscape, captured by the Perseverance rover on the west side of the rim of Jezero Crater.
The long-running Fedi server mstdn.social (not to be confused with mastodon.social π ) has just received a takedown request from the Russian government for hosting @Bellingcat, a news site which has long been critical of Putin:
https://mstdn.social/@stux/113652461647125214
Thankfully mstdn.social isn't in Russia so Putin has no power over it.
If anyone wants to turn this into a Streisand Effect kind of thing, you might want to follow @Bellingcat and slip a donation to @stux at https://mstdn.social/@stux/113623791580168625
βThe Earth is not dying,
it is being killed.
And the people
who are killing it
have names
and addresses.β
- #UtahPhillips
#ClimateCrisis #Ecocide #WaterIsLife #WorldOceansDay #Wildfires #AirPollution #Corporations #Capitalism
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βThe Earth is not dying,
it is being killed.
And the people
who are killing it
have names
and addresses.β - Utah Phillips
There was a protest at UnitedHealthcare offices. This disabled woman with a UHC Medicare plan was denied approval for treatment: βA year ago, while UnitedHealthcare was celebrating over a billion dollars at first quarter profits, I was selling the last of my belongings that had any value.β
Mastodon isn't perfect.
But the fact a social network exists that is completely free to use
has no venture capital investors
has no shareholders to answer to
has no growth targets
with a web interface with zero tracking cookies
and mobile apps with zero trackers at all
with ten thousand server administrators who donate their time for user safety
is - in my opinion - mindbogglingly cool, given the state of the world we live in. Not everything has to be shit. People make things better.
π β¬
οΈ into bean pΓ’tΓ©
