Mastodawn

Everyone in Bristol knew who Banksy was 10 years ago. Just that none of them thought they'd suck the life out of a mystery for the sake of a few clicks.

Mᴀʀᴋ VᴀɴᴅᴇWᴇᴛᴛᴇʀɪɴɢ 1d ago

Where the heck did I put my M6 heat set inserts?

Mᴀʀᴋ VᴀɴᴅᴇWᴇᴛᴛᴇʀɪɴɢ 4d ago

I was experimenting with trying to photograph Jupiter with my SeeStar S50. A 50mm telescope with just 250mm focal length is really not the right instrument: it would be difficult to expect much more than this. I did think that perhaps seeing the Great Red Spot would be just about possible, but I was wondering: is it visible? I didn't know, so I used Claude Code to help make me a quick app that could determine its position and whether it was visible. #astrophotography https://mvandewettering.com/rspot

Mᴀʀᴋ VᴀɴᴅᴇWᴇᴛᴛᴇʀɪɴɢ 5d ago

Spent a couple of hours trying to understand how to position 3 supports in a mirror cell optimally. #telescopemaking Didn't understand PLOP's suggestion, so I had Claude Code help me grind out a similar calculation in Python, and now I think I understand it much better. The basic idea is that variations at the edges are more harmful, so they should be minimized. I now reproduce PLOPs suggestions.
https://github.com/brainwagon/blip

Mᴀʀᴋ VᴀɴᴅᴇWᴇᴛᴛᴇʀɪɴɢ 6d ago

I worked on roughly reproducing the 6" mirror cell from my first telescope as a 3D print, but as I work on it, I can't help but realize just how mediocre the design is. I think I'll start from scratch. #telescopemaking #3dprinting

Mᴀʀᴋ VᴀɴᴅᴇWᴇᴛᴛᴇʀɪɴɢ Mar 6

First prototype of a diagonal holder/spider that can be easily/cheaply 3D printed. Vanes will be made out of 1/16" aluminum strip. My idea is to be able to supply these for a pittance to our telescope making workshop. I have at least three improvements to make before I give it to our first guinea pig. #telescopemaking

Mᴀʀᴋ VᴀɴᴅᴇWᴇᴛᴛᴇʀɪɴɢ Mar 6

Show thread

Prof. Sam Lawler Mar 6

Submitted!

I am an astronomer who has asked nicely for years for SpaceX to be safer in orbit, think about ways to use fewer satellites, think about the consequences of burning up so many satellites, and think about ways to make their satellites darker. This filing proposing a million satellites is a clear "fuck you" from SpaceX to the entire astronomy community, as well as the entire planet.

So, fuck you, too, SpaceX!

Mᴀʀᴋ VᴀɴᴅᴇWᴇᴛᴛᴇʀɪɴɢ Mar 3

Using Gemini CLI, I generated this R5RS Scheme implementation in under three hours. It's almost certainly hiding all sorts of issues, but it's late and I need sleep. But I'm impressed. https://github.com/brainwagon/r5rs

Mᴀʀᴋ VᴀɴᴅᴇWᴇᴛᴛᴇʀɪɴɢ Mar 3

Another random experiment in AI coding: using gemini-cli to create a scheme interpreter after soaking in the R5RS. After an hour its written the basics of a REPL loop, control structures including call/cc, and is generally making good progress. It's the kind of thing that would probably have taken a week of my spare time to do.

Mᴀʀᴋ VᴀɴᴅᴇWᴇᴛᴛᴇʀɪɴɢ Mar 2

Crap. Weedwacker tossed a rock through my back patio door, and I have tempered glass everywhere. It's just one of those days.