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  1/ This is the longest exposure I've ever taken: 8 months long! It shows the Sun's path on the sky between Apr 17 - Dec 11 2018, as seen from ESO's Paranal Observatory in #Chile. This is part of a collaboration with Diego López Calvín, an expert in solarigraphy: https://solarigrafia.com Diego sent me some of his hand-made #pinhole cameras, which I placed all over Paranal. So what do we see here? See thread below 👇 #astrodon #astronomy #astrophotography #sun #photography

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  RE: https://mastodon.social/@esoastronomy/117030773777110677 We're deploying an array of decoy telescopes and cameras pointing away from the eclipse path to lure clouds out of the way. Let's hope it works!

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  Sentinel-2 image of the massive fires currently underway in Ávila, Madrid and Toledo, with the wind blowing the smoke down all the way to Ciudad Real. And this slice doesn't even cover other active fires in other regions of #Spain... https://browser.dataspace.copernicus.eu/?zoom=7&lat=39.93501&lng=-3.65295&themeId=DEFAULT-THEME&visualizationUrl=U2FsdGVkX19Vuai500PLwSgtlS7mY%2Bk24MBQr6o7MTduhAo7FX1q7C4X5RrRbYk9UGbYbaxV5fKaIq7vrkJgW86FwFrfGSj3MxsEjayIoQwH6X%2BF5FDxbUoE%2BDFTtr...

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  Still better than our current timeline. #books #reading #bookstodon

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  RE: https://mastodon.social/@esoastronomy/116794259466848155

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  RE: https://mastodon.social/@esoastronomy/116815541237502268 The ELT's adaptive mirror is 2.4 m wide, bigger than the *primary* mirror of many telescopes out there! Now that I think about it, the smallest telescopes I've observed with, the Isaac Newton Telescope and the du Pont, are barely larger than this. #astronomy

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  I didn't notice which t-shirt I randomly grabbed this morning, but it's very fitting 🌡️🔥

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  I was worried that I might finish this book in this long train ride, but then I remembered I packed an emergency book so it's all good.

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  RE: https://mastodon.social/@esoastronomy/116844616500605008 The impact of satellite constellations on astronomy can get much worse. A new ESO study has quantified not only the effects of the satellite streaks, but also the overall increase in the sky brightness due to (a) millions of faint satellites that create a veil of diffuse light, and (b) sunlight scattered by space mirrors, even when not aiming directly at the observer. 👇 #astronomy #space

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  RE: https://mastodon.online/@astro_jcm/111580270197140894 The #solstice is a good excuse to remind you that pinhole #photography is a fun way to track the Sun's motion on the sky 👇

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  RE: https://mastodon.social/@esoastronomy/116753015201184474 Don't tell anyone, but back when I worked there I liked to pretend those tunnels were part of a Doom-style FPS game. (Yes, that's my hand holding a small tripod as a makeshift gun. Don't judge me.)

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  Astronomers make for good office mates. We may accidentally zap you with an adaptive optics laser, but most of the time you'll just have to put up with us while we come up with silly acronyms for our projects. #astronomy https://www.newscientist.com/article/2528791-tom-gauld-on-the-worst-place-to-sit/

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  "Desconocíamos que la máquina de plagiar había plagiado" 🤦 El ayuntamiento de San Martín de la Vega plagia con #IA un cartel del gran Paco Roca del año pasado para su feria del libro de este año. La captura de pantalla es de su página oficial de Facebook. https://elpais.com/cultura/2026-05-26/paco-roca-denuncia-plagio-con-ia-de-su-cartel-de-la-fira-del-llibre-de-valencia-por-el-ayuntamiento-de-san-martin-de-la-vega.html

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  This fake image goes viral every few weeks. It shows the Prohodna cave in Bulgaria, which has two openings resembling eyes. There are many similar images showing fake views of the night sky through the holes, like the unrealistically large #Moon here. I've also seen versions where the Moon has been mirrored into an impossible view. If you want to learn how to spot fake #astrophotography images, check out this article I wrote: https://www.eso.org/public/blog/csi-astronomy/ #astronomy #s...

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  Pro tip: if your tarot predictions keep failing, write "please don't make mistakes" in your tarot.md file. 1% of the time it works every time.

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  RE: https://wisskomm.social/@AIP_Potsdam/116656994879477228 Happy belated birthday! I spent many nights during my PhD observing with PMAS/PPAK at Calar Alto. Time flies! #astronomy

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  RE: https://mastodon.social/@esoastronomy/116673668738768684 Look at those radial shadows 🤩 As an extragalactic astronomer I'll never get used to seeing objects evolve on human timescales...

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  This superpower is also our kryptonite: when I moved to Chile it took me a while to figure out that the reason I kept getting lost in Santiago was that I was still subconsciously orienting myself assuming that the Sun was towards the south and not the north. https://xkcd.com/3253

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  The Venn diagram of people who dislike referring to fellow humans by their preferred pronouns and people who anthropomorphize a piece of code should not have this much overlap, yet here we are.

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  Happy #MayThe4th ! Here's a photo I took at @esoastronomy@mastodon.social 's Paranal Observatory in #Chile, with one of our 8-m telescopes aiming its four lasers at the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small galaxy orbiting the Milky Way. The lasers excite sodium atoms high up in the atmosphere, creating artificial "stars" whose twinkle we can measure in real time to correct atmospheric turbulence and get super sharp images. This is how it works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_QC...

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  RE: https://mastodon.online/@astro_jcm/116280697099009454 I was so impressed by Lumibricks' Alpine Observatory that I couldn't resist the temptation and ended up buying their #Art Gallery. It was a fantastic building experience, the model is packed with details, and it looks great on my bookshelf! 3400 pieces, 22 lights, 62 printed pieces, zero stickers. I bought it at a discount at 160 euros —an absolute steal. A similar #lego model with the same piece count would've easily cost t...

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  This is the most German headline I've ever read. https://www.dw.com/en/germany-news-neighbor-attacked-for-pounding-schnitzel-too-loudly/live-76840275

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  RE: https://social.coop/@cwebber/116398174527674933 Look, I wouldn't mind living in a Black Mirror episode if at least it wasn't a dumb one.

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  Me and all the #books I want to read at the same time.

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  RE: https://mas.to/@gleick/116351132004167290 Did Kent Brockman write this headline.

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  Hey #hiking / #travel peeps: I need to replace my old & torn camera backpack with a hiking one + a camera insert. I'm *not* looking for a dedicated camera backpack, they're often overpriced and not as comfy as hiking ones. I'll be using it for #astrophotography, so it has to be a panel loader, not top loader. I need to be able to easily access all my lenses and accessories at night without having to take the insert out. More specs below. Thanks in advance! 1/3

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  Ah, March, when the #weather in #Munich is "everything everywhere all at once"

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  #spring #munchen #munich

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  "Right now, I think we need writers who know the difference between production of a market commodity and the practice of an art. The profit motive is often in conflict with the aims of art. We live in capitalism. Its power seems inescapable; so did the divine right of kings." I'm convinced she would have despised the stochastic parrots. How much we miss her. How much we need her. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Et9Nf-rsALk #literature #books #bookstodon #reading #wri...