pppone

I would love to know if "Cambridge Blue" is actually blue to the average person, because, to me, it's green...

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge_Blue_(colour)

No MaximDL needed! All built in, including autoguiding and autofocusing.

Satellite tracking to be implemented in the future, working on it these months with a student of mine.

Object scheduling timing is down to the user - but the wait directives does sound like a useful feature!

Custom python scripts are possible, please check out here: https://docs.withastra.io/user_guide/custom_observatories

I also recommend checking out the introduction video that covers install and setup :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIElFSS1hkA

It's been great. We've been operating with it at our observatories (SPECULOOS, ESO Paranal, Chile) for the past 2 years without issues that can be attributed to Alpaca. We had to modify the Alpyca library timeout from 5 to 60s (which Astra uses) given our legacy ASCOM drivers not being as compliant as they should be, but other than that it has worked well.

I just released Astra, so I'm impressed how quickly you got set up!

Not to mention the huge issues of cosmic rays. Sure, if the lifespan of the satellite is expected to be low, then maybe tolerable. But even then, how would this be financially viable?

I'm hoping one of these efforts will lead to local translation of PDFs. Anyone aware of one? Not local, but the best I've found is using Google Translate via camera/images.

In astronomy, laser frequency combs are horribly expensive (~$0.5M), but fantastic for calibrating high precision spectrographs. It would be interesting to see if this method could be tuned for that application (namely, shifting to the visible), such to enable cheaper spectrographs.

We've colocated many SPS30s with government reference stations, and the low cost sensor have always performed relatively well. But, more importantly for my use case, they are exceptionally inter-comparable.

I used to run https://www.open-seneca.org/. But, personally, it's nice to know the PM value whilst cooking, before going on a run, etc. Permits you to take informed decisions.

I don't think it would. Data in these instances would have to be ignored.

You can detrend for high humidities, but once water condenses, the only way round this would be to add a drying instrument.

I've been running multiple Sensirion SPS30 PM sensors for years, and I'm honestly amazed how well they've held up. Particularly with respect to, within their spec'd error, how new/unused SPS30s report similar values to my heavily used ones.

Curious if there are any maintenance requirements for the bosch sensor.

A really nice way of experiencing a hardware product! I wish we had done the same for our air quality monitor when we were operational. [0]

[0] https://www.open-seneca.org/

Yes, and it is already happening in professional astronomy. For example, the "Antarctic Tianmu Plan" [0] have shown that you can successfully capture non-trailed images without using tracking mounts by using drift-scanning CCDs—basically letting the sky move across your sensor while the detector is read out at the same rate.

[0] https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3019468

I really like the VS Code extension for sqliteview.app - [0]. It also offers an edit feature for a reasonable price, in my opinion. I'm curious if there are any competing editor alternatives.

[0] https://vscode.sqliteviewer.app/

A site to find the right weather for your next trip or relocation:

https://weatherflip.com/

I'm looking for co-founders to explore monetization routes. Feel free to reach out.

Yes!! Sorry - didn't see this message. If you're still interested, please apply here: https://forms.gle/sUd7J7xEMmbReJsg6

They're new :). But they're mobile sensors - designed for bike mounting as opposed to permanent installation.

+1 for mobile. I would use it primarily as a means to plan urban routes and cycle touring (I wouldn't be touring with my laptop :P)

Looks really nice - congrats on the app :). I can't test it since I don't use iOS. But if you ever make an android or web browser version - happy to play :)

Thank you for this. I personally appreciate the easy to download GPX for my Wahoo. For reference, I've been using [0] to get around the city since Google Maps sucks here. I also really like the routes suggested by [1], but their mobile app is super buggy.

[0] https://cyclers.app/

[1] https://www.cyclestreets.net/

At volume, the SPS30 gets down to ~$30 a piece. Their newest sensors (SEN5X) offer similar specs, and are about $25 per single unit, or $15 a piece at volume for the cheapest variant. The more expensive variant include integrated T/RH monitoring, which is very handy for humidity corrections for this type of PM2.5 sensing.

Sadly not yet. Since this is more of a voluntary commitment amongst my friends and I (we're in the process of finishing our PhDs), we lack the human-power to take the product to market at the moment.

I would recommend checking out the AQ-SPEC program [1]. They do quite comprehensive tests on low-cost air quality sensors. My side project with a few friends [2] chose to use the Sensirion SPS30 [3] for our portable PM2.5 monitor. As mentioned by others, it's a bit more expensive than the PMS5003 used by AirGradient, but we preferred its documentation, company reputation, and form factor at the time of choosing (2019). The PMS5003 is perfectly capable, and has demonstrated good success with many projects/companies using the sensor (e.g. PurpleAir). However, a quick search suggests there are some issues with a recent batch of these sensors [4].

[1] https://www.aqmd.gov/aq-spec/sensors

[2] https://www.open-seneca.org/

[3] https://sensirion.com/products/catalog/SPS30/

[4] https://community.purpleair.com/t/new-version-of-plantower-p...