Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

James Petruzzi

@hawaiianimages.bsky.social

13K followers 840 following 12K posts

Haleakala Observatory/NASA T4 Laser Ranging Project (skeets/opinions mine) Photographer/Astrophotographer, birder, conservationist, SCUBA diver, Zen philosopher-idiot. Shoots a big laser at satellites for a living. : ) https://www.myhawaiianimages.com

www.myhawaiianimages.com

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

James Petruzzi @hawaiianimages.bsky.social · Sep 2

As promised, here's a quick portfolio post for all the new people. I do satellite laser ranging for a living now, but have spent years as a photographer, mostly birds, space, underwater, and other stuff as it presents. Here are 4 of my best. :) 🐙🦉📷🌿🧪🔭 Prints and stuff at www.myhawaiianimages.com

An Ae'o (Hawaiian stilt), a small graceful wading bird with black back and wings and a white body, red legs. She is hunting the shallows of Kealia NWR with a rainbow reflected in the water in upper left.

The Horsehead Nebula in Orion, a field of hydrogen glowing red with a horsehead-shaped cloud of dust in the foreground. At lower left is a bright star lighting up the dust blue. About 6 hours of integration time with my 10" Ritchey–Chrétien scope

An Ornate octopus (also called a night octopus), an endemic Hawaiian cephalopod, showing a reddish body with white spots, and flaring out its arms. Night dive, Ulua Beach Maui.

Lava entering the ocean, with clouds of steam and dripping water. Kamokuna ocean entry, Big Island Hawaii, August 2016

22 110 680

James Petruzzi @hawaiianimages.bsky.social · 1h

ALSO PROUDEST CAT AND BEST CAT : )

As always, relevant XKCD cartoon:

xkcd cartoon "Cat Proximity". A graph with an x axis labeled "Human Proximity To Cat" There are two plotted arcs, a downward-curve of intelligence and an upward curve of Inanity correlated with an increasing Proximity To Cat

1 1

James Petruzzi @hawaiianimages.bsky.social · 3h

Love this kind of scene, the more so because you can take the exact same frame at several different shutter speeds and all of them will be cool in different ways. :)

1 1

James Petruzzi @hawaiianimages.bsky.social · 14h

Nice!

Reposted by James Petruzzi

Physghoul 👻 @physgal.bsky.social · 14h

Another great @xkcd.com comic for my lecture slides. Special Relativity is coming up later this semester. ⚛️ 🎢

SURE, WHEN EINSTEIN SUGGESTS USING THE LORENTZ TRANSFORM TO EXPLAIN THE CONNECTION BETWEEN VELOCITY AND TIME, PEOPLE CALL HIM A GENIUS.

BUT WHEN I SUGGEST IT, IT'S "BASIC PHYSICS" AND "UNDERGRADUATE STUFF."

SUCH A DOUBLE STANDARD!

1 4 77

James Petruzzi @hawaiianimages.bsky.social · 14h

I found out that the lowland ones are a different variety, tho same species. Argemone glauca var. decipiens versus var. glauca. glauca variety is mostly < 2000', whereas decipiens is the stuff we saw at 6000+

2 4

James Petruzzi @hawaiianimages.bsky.social · 14h

(alt text: a small bird perched on a limb with downward pointing wings and a greyish belly)

Reposted by James Petruzzi

Hawaiʻi Pacific Parks Association @hawaiipacificparks.bsky.social · 14h

Happy #Birdtober!
🎶 ʻŌmaʻo (Hawaiʻi Thrush)
Myadestes obscurus

A soft, fluting song in the forest? That’s the ʻōmaʻo, a shy native thrush that brings quiet magic Hawaiʻi Island. Listen for this bird on the summit trails of Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park. #Omao

IMG: @hawaiianimages.bsky.social

1 5 34

James Petruzzi @hawaiianimages.bsky.social · 15h

Love this movie. :)

1 3

Reposted by James Petruzzi

paris martineau @paris.nyc · 17h

my latest investigation for @consumerreports.org is based on months of reporting and 60+ lab tests of leading protein supplements

we found that most protein powders and shakes have more lead in one serving than our experts say is safe to have in a day (🧵)

www.consumerreports.org/lead/protein...

Protein Powders and Shakes Contain High Levels of Lead - Consumer Reports

CR tests of 23 popular protein powders and shakes found that most contain high levels of lead.

www.consumerreports.org

260 2.9K 5.4K

James Petruzzi @hawaiianimages.bsky.social · 16h

Fascinating and indeed alarming article. I was relieved that the company that makes the shake I use is the only one you didn't find lead in.

Reposted by James Petruzzi

ESA Space Science @science.esa.int · 1d

4️⃣ Unplanned scientific opportunity ahead ☄️

Beginning of November, Juice will attempt to observe comet #3I/Atlas over a period of four weeks. The team plans on using several instruments, including cameras, spectrometers and a particle sensor. 6/8

1 15 44

Reposted by James Petruzzi

ESA Space Science @science.esa.int · 1d

It is also far from Earth, on the other side of the Sun. For all these reasons, we don’t expect to receive Juice’s observations of 3I/ATLAS until February 2026. It is a long wait indeed, but it's a big space out there. 8/8

6 46

Reposted by James Petruzzi

ESA Space Science @science.esa.int · 1d

Given Juice is still close to the Sun, it's using its main high-gain antenna as a heat shield. It will be sending data back to Earth using its smaller medium-gain antenna. 7/8

1 4 30

James Petruzzi @hawaiianimages.bsky.social · 1d

Sometimes there's nothing you can do but laugh. I'm also reminded of some Frank Herbert (later Dune novels), talking about Mentat training and how the first lesson is learning that to work the mind you need to let the mind work itself. It's not a muscle. :) That also is in Zen training. Breathe.

1 1

James Petruzzi @hawaiianimages.bsky.social · 1d

Brains. Are. Weird. And to be honest, the prefrontal cortex is SO new that it's not entirely clear it's a good idea. 30 million years? Our brains are still in BETA. :)

1 1

Reposted by James Petruzzi

ESO @eso.org · 1d

50 million light-years away, galaxy NGC 1097 & its tiny companion NGC 1097A are locked in a galactic embrace.

The bright knots around NGC 1097’s centre are thought to be large bubbles of glowing hydrogen gas about 750–2500 light-years across.

www.eso.org/public/image... 🔭

#Flashback

A barred spiral galaxy with a bright yellow core, sweeping outer arms against a dark background. A smaller galaxy is visible on the top right.

1 26 130

James Petruzzi @hawaiianimages.bsky.social · 1d

Good pupper

James Petruzzi @hawaiianimages.bsky.social · 1d

Wow, even Newsmax and the Examiner aren't on board, I'm a bit startled, actually.

1 1

James Petruzzi @hawaiianimages.bsky.social · 1d

Wait, I actually read this too fast last time. NOT PCC, its a new photometric background removal tool I was talking about.

James Petruzzi @hawaiianimages.bsky.social · 1d

Now I'm intrigued. On the list. :)

James Petruzzi @hawaiianimages.bsky.social · 1d

Yep! :) There's an excellent tutorial on the Pixinsight YouTube page, I was very impressed.

BTW, if you see a sort of circular halo around your subject when you use DBE, it typically means the degree setting is too high.

James Petruzzi @hawaiianimages.bsky.social · 1d

I love this (except the stalker part of course). Say hi to your corvid friends for me. :)

James Petruzzi @hawaiianimages.bsky.social · 1d

Much more true of Peter Jackson, really... :)

James Petruzzi @hawaiianimages.bsky.social · 1d

We need it for the "real time" aspects because we're tracking operations with picosecond accuracy.

James Petruzzi @hawaiianimages.bsky.social · 2d

Wow, that's an ugly one.