As a no-profit association, skylive is born few years ago, and i was one of the founders. Skylive was not i my idea, it was Ivan that invented it years before i join, but when i joined it skylive start to grow and get an official status of no-profit legally recognized association.

When i joined skylive, there was only one observatory in sicily, the server side was running on an home ADSL connection, was written in
delphy and running on a windows pc. The client was also written in delphy, and was windows-only.

The protocol was confusing, and the system was not working so well. Not that i don’t admire the effort to first write those things by Ivan, that isn’t a coder but just an amatorial self-made man.

Anyway, i use linux, and i’m a big fan of the free-software and the open source world. So, when i first meet Ivan, i proposed to re-write whole things and make it cross-platform.

Some years ago i was assuming the role of chief programmer and coder coordinator of the project, and skylive-ng ( a rewrite of the old client ) was born, in python, cross-platform. The protocol was the same old one, with some addition, and the server also was the same. So, the new skylived was also born, in python with twisted. A complete rewrite of the server, moved on a hosted dedicated server on a professional facility.

Things start to become better, and skylive start to grow, other observatories agree to link with the network, and a lot of new things where added to both client and server, things like real-time online speech become real, better management of telescopes also become real and so on.

We where working great, and the skylive project become more and more professional and amazing.

Two years ago i started do be less reliable from the skylive perspective cause of personal issues, my job and my personal life has the precedence, and very few spare time remain to dedicate to the project.
The developent was stalling, but a lot of things remain to do: a new protocol, new features and some fixes for long waited features not really working. Some new people come in the staff, and one of those is, at least oficially, a programmer.

Sadly we where absolutely incompatible, i prefer open code and python, it prefer closed code and java, i see windows things like a hell, he see windows things like a heaven, i care about some nerdish things like the way to follow, he’s not.

At some point, he come with the idea to totally rewrite whole things another time, and he do it, withouth collaboration with me, it just do it the way he things has to do. My role of developers coordinator was only an empty word.
As i was not having enough time to impose my vision, he start to hijack the developement of the whole things. Nothing bad with this if only the new developement doesn’t trash the hard work already done in last years and if doesn’t it bad pratices. The result is:

– The new server is running on a dedicated linux server, but it is written in delphy and running under wine (!)
– The new client is written in delphy and is running only on windows
– The “alternative” client for osx and linux is a web based one, written in java, and it doesn’t work 3 days out of 4
– Some of the new features long waited are implemented, but some features of the “old” system are not. A lot of the features long eaited on the old system are not implemented
– There is a new protocol, something better than the old one, but it remain not released and it isn’t exactly the heaven of the protocols.

Meantime this new coder get arrogance and superior attitude versus me, not that i’m sweet with him, and as i don’t agree with the new system, i was saying “i will wait when your system will crash, i will seat at the river border waiting the dead man passing away, and i will come back to start to code a things as it has to be done”.

This is one years ago. Few days ago, someone in the staff mailing list was saying “Franco, i don’t like your status, you must choose, in or out”. I choose out.

maybe one of those days i will also write what next about my observatory and my future projects…

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this is a 2xH filter + 1xG filter + 2xB filter + 1xL filter 900 seconds exposures with the takahashi sky90 apo with a sbig st8xme telescope number 1 of the skylive network. Stacking done with Astrobuffer, just a little color calibration with gimp.

Exposures and elaboration by Franco (nextime) Lanza

astronomia, nebulas, nebulose, skylive

Here is the  light curve of a transit of the exoplanet XO-3b, done by analyzing in comparative photometry 200 exposures with r filt, 2×2 binning and 45 sec of exposure, 10 mediated dark frames, 10 mediated flat frames, all done from the skylive telescope number for. The seeing was measured as 1.5 at 3×3 binning, the exposures are a little out of focus cause in hour experience with this telescope can help to get better (more precise and sensible) results in photometry.

Exposures done from 16:30 and 20:00 UT Time yesterday, 9 january 2010.

Exposures done by: Ivan Bellia, Franco Lanza, Aldo Pucciarelli

Data reduction: Ivan Bellia

Here the resulting light curve:

XO-3b transit light curve

Here the field of view used for retriving data:

Field of view of XO-3b

astronomia, skylive

This is an average of 5 images on H band with 900 exposures from different time/users of skylive telescope number 6, elaboration with skyliveNG by Franco Lanza

NGC2070 from skylive telescope 6

astronomia, nebulas, nebulose, skylive

This is a fast average of 6 exposures of m51 in different days during end of 2008 and first quarter of 2009, from misc skylive users, average done by Franco Lanza with skyliveNG, only in black and white ( L filter only exposures )

M51 from skylive telescope 4

astronomia, galassie, galaxy, skylive