Jordan Maples

@maples-astro.bsky.social

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Software engineer and astrophotographer located in the PNW near Seattle.

C++

Also just because I’m a software engineer doesn’t mean I’m an “AI bro”, fuck generative AI.

All astrophotography images posted are acquired and processed by me

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What I look like scrolling social media

Alright, I've had it with the NexDome. I've fought it every day since I bought it and I'm done. I'm just going to build and automate a roll-off. Send me your favorite roll-off observatory designs and extra points if it has automation instructions / options / parts lists. halp #astrophotography

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Someone spray painted “Fuck Elon” on like 40 Cybertrucks in a Tesla parking lot. Blessed.

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Same data but different processing. I got some feedback that the last version was over sharpened and it looked unnatural so I didn't go as hard on the contrast of the core and tried to bring out more of the colors. Let me know what you think. #astrophotography #astronomy #photography #galaxy 🔭📷

M101 the Pinwheel Galaxy. I shot this over the last few clear nights. I've got about 22 hours of total integration time 15 of which was LRGB and 7 was Ha. I pushed the H2 regions a bit further toward the magenta than I normally do and am glad that I did. #astronomy #astrophotography #photography 📷🔭

After getting some fantastic suggestions on different approaches to use when processing my M51 image, I went back and fully reprocessed it. I'm thrilled that I did. Like last time, I'll start with the super cropped version of it and reply with the full image. #astrophotography #astronomy 🔭📷

I’ve gotta say PNW, I’m getting really tired of this wet shit. Like it’s June and I need to get this Sadr region mosaic underway. How do you expect me to do space shit when I’ve had only one clear night in the last month???

I managed to get a couple clear nights and pointed my scope at M51. Here's a close up, cropped view of the galaxy. I pushed the black point a bit further than I originally intended so I might go back and redo parts of the edit later. #astrophotography #astronomy #galaxy #photography 🔭📷

There was a small break in the clouds this last weekend so I ran out with my camera to take a quick shot of this tree in my backyard. 📷: Sony A6000 w/ E 70-350mm f/4.5-6.3 G OSS

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Oh this is a way better way of putting it:

the energy i try to bring the skyline, despite my intentions

Found a little snek chilling in the backyard today while I was out playing with my camera

I did some work out in my dome this weekend. I tackled the cable management on the scope and made another iteration on the charger for the dome shutter. The cabling is a bit better but as always there’s room for improvement once I get some shorter usb cables in. #astrophotography 🔭

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It arrived

Drop something green from your gallery

I did a quick, rough pass on my M81 & M82 data from the last couple of clear nights. I’ll definitely spend some more time on this and give it the proper attention it deserves. This is roughly 14 hours of data after I threw out the bad frames. 🔭 #astrophotography

So last night I fought Astro Physics Point Mapper for about 4 hours before I just gave up and closed down the dome w/ no data. After a bit of debugging this morning, I found the issue was with my tolerance settings for ASTAP. So now that I have that fixed and working, we're imaging!

Looks like it might finally clear up for the next couple of days! What targets should I go for? M81 and M82, Markarian’s chain, or something else?

First clear night in 4 months! I had to burn some time while waiting for my main targets to come over the horizon last night so I figured I'd shoot the moon. I don't normally image the moon or any planets so the processing is a bit rough but who doesn't love a moon shot? #astrophotography 🔭

It got a bit breezy (high wind warning) last night and a tree fell in my backyard. Luckily it missed the house AND the observatory. The top of the tree is on the deck but I don’t see any damage. It seems like my cherry tree took the biggest hit, I hope it doesn’t die from the broken branch.

Its only appropriate that I repost my heart (nebula) today.

Here’s the Heart Nebula. 14 hours of integration time @ 300s subs, roughly evenly distributed across the filters with an extra hour or so thrown on the hydrogen. #astrophotography #astronomy #nebula Do hashtags even work on Bluesky?

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I'm going to broadcast this once again because new people are here now. I have a shared and self curated mute list to filter out A.I. / NFT / Crypto accounts for those who want an improved bsky experience. I investigate them all personally, but if you find someone I missed, you can reply or @ me.

The Great AI/NFT/CRYPTO Cull

List by @rayday.bsky.social

If you prefer to avoid gAI users, NFT or crypto people, sub to this. Inclusion on list for: USING / POSTING or REPOSTING / PRO AI SHILLING / HARASSING ARTISTS. NOT included: non NFT math/programming based art Plz also see @aimod.social and @cryptolabeler.w3igg.com for extra list protection.

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NGC 7023 - Iris Nebula I shot this target back in August and had just about 19 hours of data on it. It was a tricky one to process but in the end I was able to get it to a decent enough state to share. 🔭 Takahashi E160ED on EQ6R Pro 📷 Zwo ASI 2600mm

We've finally fixed my computer after a week and a half of swapping out parts. It turns out that my 5950x died. I've never had a CPU die on me, but hey I'm glad it wasn't the GPU.

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🔥🗑️

Does anyone have any ideas on how to track down Windows hangs? My computer has been hanging more and more recently and requiring full reboots to fix. I'm not seeing anything in the event viewer that might suggest a root cause and the temps are fine. Maybe I should reinstall Windows

I shouldn't get my hopes up weather wise since a couple days back they were calling for 1-2 feet of snow, but there's the a chance that I'll be able to image this weekend. I can't wait to put the new mount to work. Anyone have suggestions on what targets I should try shooting? 47deg N

I had some data for the California nebula sitting on my drive from back in late October. Using the nasty weather and threat of snow as an excuse to process it. #astrophotography 🔭📷

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Merry Chrysler 🎅

I’ve still got to work on my cabling a little bit and buy some shorter usb cables but I’ve got everything up on my Astro-Physics Mach2. 🔭 #astrophotography