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33 votes
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Detailed astronomical observation logging with a microphone and AI
I'm into astronomy as a hobby, and it's useful to have a log of the things in the sky you've seen. Many people take handwritten notes, but my handwriting is awful and having to write notes takes...
I'm into astronomy as a hobby, and it's useful to have a log of the things in the sky you've seen. Many people take handwritten notes, but my handwriting is awful and having to write notes takes away from enjoying the views through the telescope.
So after being inspired by AI note taking applications I've read about online, I decided to give it a try while out observing.
First, I take my recordings and run them through Whisper's speech to text engine. Because my recordings have frequent astronomical terms, it seems to be more useful to run the larger models (or the new turbo model), because they seem to do better identifying the names of moons and constellations.
Next, I run Ollama and give it a prompt like:
Here is a speech to text transcript of an observation session. Create a detailed log of the session, using only facts found in the text. Do not add your own interpretation to the text.
I'm still experimenting with prompts and models, but oddly it seems like shorter prompts give better results. So far, the type of model doesn't seem to matter so much as the number of parameters. Gemma2 27B outperforms llama 3.1 7B, but llama 70B outperforms both of them (again, I think the larger models have more context about which astronomical terms are important). Here's what that gets me with basically no work on my part:
**Observation Session Log** **Session Details** * Date: October 3rd, 2024 * Location: Wolf Street * Telescope: Teleview 85 (also referred to as 80) * Observer: [Not specified] **Targets Observed** 1. M29 (Open Cluster in Cygnus) * Time: 2057 - 2101 * Eyepiece used: 18.2mm * Notes: + Found using star hopping from Sater + Appears as a faint open cluster with 6-7 distinct stars + Stars are fairly even in brightness and color 2. M39 (Open Cluster) * Time: 2109 - 2116 * Eyepiece used: Ultra-wide angle, 18.2mm, and 8.5mm (noted as a mistake, actually using 7mm) * Notes: + Found using star hopping from Deneb + Appears as a larger open cluster with more differentiation in star magnitudes + Stars appear bluer than surrounding stars 3. Alberio (Double Star) * Time: 2120, 2155 * Eyepiece used: Ultra-wide angle and 7mm * Notes: + Found easily without a guide + Appears as a beautiful contrast between colors with constituent parts standing out from the surrounding stars 4. M15 (Globular Cluster in Pegasus) * Time: 2120 - 2130 * Eyepiece used: Ultra-wide angle, 18.2mm, 7mm, and Barlow (2x) with 7mm * Notes: + Found using a bright naked-eye star as a guide + Appears as a slight smudge or fuzzy patch with averted vision + Not resolving individual stars at any power 5. Saturn * Time: 2140 - 2150 * Eyepiece used: Low power, highest power (with a star chart to confirm moon positions) * Notes: + Three moons visible: Rhea, Enceladus, and Titan + Striping on the surface of Saturn visible at highest power **Session End** * Time: 2157
I'm very happy with the quality of the notes. It's much, much better than my handwritten notes and much less work, so I'm likely to do this more consistently.
7 votes -
AI artist says he’s losing money from people stealing his work
30 votes -
The collapse of self-worth in the digital age
28 votes -
German Navy Enigma machine systems were different to the Army, making them tougher to crack. In this video, James Grime discusses the differences and what Alan Turing achieved in breaking the code.
6 votes -
Crook made millions by breaking into execs’ Office365 inboxes, US law enforcement says
9 votes -
This Biohybrid robot is made of human cells and controlled by a machine 'Mind'
8 votes -
A bigger basket air fryer is worth it, even if you aren't cooking for a crowd
37 votes -
Operation Match: The dating service that changed our love lives
4 votes -
My hated AI video
15 votes -
Great examples of explaining an algorithm (or even just a process)
Does anyone have any great examples of a document that explains an algorithm? For work, I am trying to learn how an algorithm works, and I thought it'd be a great exercise to build up a doc that...
Does anyone have any great examples of a document that explains an algorithm?
For work, I am trying to learn how an algorithm works, and I thought it'd be a great exercise to build up a doc that outlines what happens and how it works. I'm hopefully to lean slightly on the more technical side, but not so far that non-technical people won't derive any meaning.
I'm looking to write something that clearly outlines a process, and shows how those pieces affect the final result. It's something I've never done before, but having difficulty finding posts when googling around for "how an algorithm works".
I'm thinking the ideal format mixes both text and graphics, but the majority I have found are gigantic walls of text. I want to write about a software algorithm, but I think this broadly applies for any sort of complicated process.
13 votes -
OpenAI pushes ahead with for-profit plans and talks to give Sam Altman a stake
33 votes -
The attempt to reform Intel
8 votes -
The white collar apocalypse is nigh
30 votes -
Modeling shows that reconductoring can quickly beef up grids
6 votes -
Over 300 new 'Nazca Lines' geoglyphs have been revealed by AI
20 votes -
Hezbollah is hit by a wave of exploding pagers that killed at least nine people and injured thousands
79 votes -
Spotify co-founder Daniel Ek hopes his latest brainchild, the Neko Body Scan, will revolutionise healthcare
20 votes -
Headlamp tech that doesn’t blind oncoming drivers—where is it?
33 votes -
Up to a quarter of US rental inflation could be due to price-fixing
65 votes -
Data finds US Republican areas search more frequently for transgender porn
41 votes -
Why don't governments invest in their own dating apps? Would you use one?
I've thought about this off and on for like a year. It, as far as I know, seems well documented that populations are struggling with dating and marriages, especially in the younger generations. A...
I've thought about this off and on for like a year.
It, as far as I know, seems well documented that populations are struggling with dating and marriages, especially in the younger generations. A lot of people attribute it to things like finances, working hours, cost of living, etc, but also the abysmal online dating circus. People don't seem to go out with the intention of meeting people as much, and so most turn to apps like Tinder, Bumble, and Hinge. But with these apps basically monopolized by the Match group, and none of the parent companies have an actual incentive to get people off the app, it seems like a ripe opportunity for governments everywhere to try and fill in the gap.
As they don't have the investor profit motive, but they do have a very strong motive for people to get together, have relationships, marriages, eventually babies. And this is just a baseless claim on my part, but I imagine it could be stimulating to local economies as more people go on dates. I know at least my ass doesn't go anywhere really when I'm single.
29 votes -
Constellation to restart Three Mile Island unit, powering Microsoft
13 votes -
AI and the American smile
35 votes -
47-year-old Voyager 1 spacecraft just fired up thrusters it hasn’t used in decades
53 votes -
Data center emissions probably 662% higher than big tech claims
20 votes -
Norwegian matchdays have become a scene in which fans throw fishcakes, champagne corks and croissants onto the pitch against what they perceive to be the invasive technology of VAR
5 votes -
Swedish government says excessive screen time is causing a severe health crisis for youth – new legislation in the works to require schools to ban access to digital devices
14 votes -
CO2 turned into fuel: Japan’s scientists convert captured carbon into green fuel
20 votes -
NHS cannot embrace AI until its basic IT systems are up to scratch. Prof Sir Martin Landray: clinical IT functions are slow and ‘devastatingly user unfriendly’
20 votes