Kristof Dierick
AstroPhotoKD
About me
Hello, my name is Kristof Dierick and I'm a professional airline pilot. Being up there in the sky puts me closer, with only a little, to the stars and connected to the vastness of our universe. Imagine you're flying over the dark Atlantic Ocean, the African continent or the Alp's for example, with your nose pushed against the flight deck windshield gazing up the stars... well that's me. Of course we also regularly check our flight instruments.
In 2012 I bought my first telescope, a Meade LXD75 and I enjoyed it a lot. Ever since I've been buying and selling telescopes for my own use to find out which one suites me best. Finally I took the step to astrophotography because for me it's so much more rewarding than looking visually at the deep sky from a light polluted area. So needles to say I've become a passionate amateur astrophotographer. This webpage is dedicated to my astrophotography hobby.
My location
I'm living in a semi-rural village, part of Gingelom, in Belgium and from there I take most (if not all to date) my pictures. It's a bortle 5 sky and light pollution is highest from nearby cities like Sint-Truiden, Landen, Waremme but also in the village itself I've some streetlights and a well lit church tower to accompany me during imaging.
Sky Darkness
Weather Forecast
Most of the time we've typically Belgian weather, meaning.... cloudy.
On rare occasions we've actually a clear sky, that's why I monitor most weather forecast like this one.
About the Logo - Disco Colgante
Although I couldn't really find scientific literature about this artifact, I still find it intriguing. You can find this explanation below on Fractal Holographic Universe . I'm not a real "believer", but I find some of the extra terrestrial theories are fascinating at least.
There are many of unique artifacts spread around the world which blatantly defies explanation within conventional historical paradigms. One such artifact is the Disco Colgante. This artifact is said to be located in the Rafael Larco Herero Archaeological Museum in the capital of Peru, Lima. I didn't find a record of it though in the public catalogue of the museum.
The artifact is a disk with tiled cuts thickening towards its center. Outgoing arc-shaped rays are divided into sectors. The artifact has no dating (as it is inorganic), but it was located within a hall with ceramics from the 16th century, before the Spanish inquisition, from the Columbian era belonging to the Moche culture. This culture existed from about 100 to 700 AD on the coast of Peru.
Interestingly, the artifact clearly resembles the shape of a spiral galaxy. The mark on one of the disc beams is even in accordance with modern day understanding of the location of the Solar System within the Milky Way. This modern day understanding of the existence and shape of galaxies is about 100 years old. Only recently did astrophysicists learn that our galaxy does indeed thicken towards its center. Apparently, some one in pre-Columbian era knew the structure of our the Milky Way galaxy as observed from an angle thousands and thousands of light years away and the more or less exact position of the Solar System within it.
