It's my firm belief that the secret to long life and happiness is to keep learning, discovering new ideas and building new skills. This is a place where I hope to share many of my hobbies and interests, and hopefully encourage others with creative and enquiring minds to have a go as well.
The website keeps growing, plenty of new pages added on Messier Objects and starting to add some Free Plans - Enjoy!
Stub Mandrel
LATEST UPDATE: Changing the Bearings on a Mini Lathe
Image of the Month for April 2021: The Cosmic Jellyfish, IC433
The Jellyfish Nebula, IC433 is a supernova remnant in the constellation of
Scientists think that the star which created the nebula is a rapidly spinning neutron star or pulsar numbered CXOU J061705.3+222127, or J0617 for short, which is a powerful x-ray source.
I stacked the image with Deep Sky Stacker then assigned the Sii,Ha,Oiii data (from ionised sulphur, hydrogen and oxygen)to RGB in that order, which gives the 'Hubble palette'. I used Photoshop CS2 to stretch details and adjust the colour palette (this is usually done so that the stong Ha signal appears yellow, rather than bright green).and then used Astra Image for fine-tuning and some gentle contrast enhancement.The oxygen rich areas are visible as a slight violet halo around the outer p[arts of the nebula.
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Astrophotography Gallery
So far the topics covered by this website concentrate on four main areas:
Model engineering - the making of working models essentially using the same materials and techniques as the prototypes.
Typical model engineering project - Norden Steam Engine
Metalworking workshop - not just for model engineering, all sorts of hobby engineering
In the workshop - make this Quick Change Toolpost
Projects - mostly boats so far, but I will be adding other stuff! All the things that aren't mostly made of metal.
Fast model boats - Miss Britain III
Astronomy - a hobby that offers opportunities for photographic, engineering and electronic projects while also opening my eyes to the vastness and variety of the universe.
Astronomy and astrophotography, probing the universe!
That's not everything though, I will be adding reviews of some of my favourite music, and perhaps a few of my own tunes, some of my photography and you will also find the obscure Adept Lathe Register on these pages.