Semester one down

Posted on June 27, 2012 by Carl Joseph

A month after finishing first semester, and I find myself longing for more brain food. It’s been good to have a break from the study, but I’m keen to get back into it again soon. My first semester with SAO was amazing. I did two subjects, one which focused on stars and their evolution, the other on galaxies.

It was tough work with a lot of material to cover. I found myself studying every night, and most weekends. I’ve had little to no time behind the telescope as well which is a bit of a shame, although the poor weather we’ve had in Melbourne this year has made my guilt more bearable.

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Newsgroups for learning

Posted on February 29, 2012 by Carl Joseph

The post grad I’m undertaking is online. This is great because I can manage my study time much more effectively around work and home, and I also get the influence of people from all over the world in my class as well. The course has a requirement that you post a certain number of questions and answers each fortnight to the forums. I was expecting that people would do the bare minimum for this item and therefore the value of the newsgroups would be limited. Was I mistaken!

Newsgroup postings

Less than one week into the official semester my two subjects have 41 posts between them. Some are simple few line answers and comments. There are however some which are of quite a high quality and very informative. What has surprised me most was how much learning I have already gotten from crafting my own responses to questions.

A question was posed asking why Shapley considered Globular Clusters to be a part of our galaxy and not external to it. I thought this was an interesting question and began to do a little research about it. Before I realised, 4 hours had flown by, it was past midnight and I had explored a wonderful world of mistakes, friends and alliances, a great debate and a reconciliation. Through those four hours I learnt more about this topic than I had read in our course material and elsewhere.

I’ll write more about engagement through the newsgroups at a later date, but suffice to say, so far I’m finding them very useful to my learning.

Organising my reading materials

Posted on February 24, 2012 by Carl Joseph

In starting my studies in Astronomy this week, I found it necessary to get myself organised. More specifically, organising the course materials, research papers and web sites. My process for this will definitely evolve and change over time, however here is what I’m working with at the moment.

What I needed

A short summary of my requirements:

Course materials and readings (in PDF) should be stored in a central location
Can be accessed through my Mac or iPad
Must be able to highlight and make annotations on the PDFs
Files can be categorised by tags/labels
Citation/Source for papers can be stored

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Comet C/2011 W3 (Lovejoy)

Posted on February 8, 2012 by Carl Joseph

I haven’t updated here in a while so thought it was about time. Summer is here in Australia which means more time outside at night under the stars. La Niña is here which means a not so hot and not so dry climate which doesn’t bode to well for those with their eyes fixated on the heavens. I’m planning on fixing that in other ways, but more on that later.

In the meantime, here’s a pic I took of Comet C/2011 W3 (Lovejoy). I woke up at 4am for a number of nights in a row hoping the skies would be clear. So on the 23rd of December, I wasn’t expecting much but on walking out into my backyard, I saw the comet. There she was, blazing brightly above the horizon. Clear to the naked eye. I ran inside, grabbed my camera gear and tripod. Threw on some shoes, grabbed my keys and ran out of the house into my car.

Driving like a speed demon around the suburbs at 4am in the morning, I found a dark place on an unsealed road in-front of a large property. I pulled up in the middle of the street, turned off my light, set up my gear and started the camera shooting. As I sat down on the gravel I realised something. I looked like a real dork. Shorts, tattered t-shirt, runners without socks, camera gear and retainer. Yes, a retainer. In my defence I was excited and I forgot to take it out. Also in my defence, I was in the midst of getting a root canal and crown replaced. Finally in my defence, I got to see my first comet so there, I don’t care much what you think!

C/2011 W3 (Lovejoy)

Finished table

Posted on November 11, 2011 by Carl Joseph

This is part 3 of 3 in the series Hall table #2

I’ve been procrastinating on this post for a number of reasons. The veneering I did for the top didn’t turn out as well as I would have hoped. A combination of crazy humid weather and possibly not enough glue caused the veneer to form checks. This reminds me of how much timber is in synch with the environment, even long after the tree has been felled.

Wood movement in veneer

I decided to go in a different direction for the top. I had a nice piece of camphor wood waiting for an opportunity like this. So after some slicing up, resawing and gluing, we have a new table top. I really quite like the end result and the grain in the camphor is very striking.

Camphor wood top

Finished hall table #2

If you like this table, or any of my other work, I’m starting to sell some pieces on etsy. So, take a look at my etsy store for details.

Veneering the hall table top

Posted on November 4, 2011 by Carl Joseph

This is part 2 of 3 in the series Hall table #2

The glue

I’m using “hide glue” for this process which is also known as animal glue. Yes, it’s literally made from bits of (dead) animal tissue, essentially cellulose. Animal glue has been used for many thousands of years and is perfect for veneering.

The basic process is to hydrate the glue granules with water, head it up to 60-80C and brush it onto the surface. The glue become tacky as it cools (which only take a few seconds). This provides the initial stickiness you need to lay down and position the veneer. Over the next few hours, the glue’s moisture evaporates and it pulls the two pieces of wood together forming a very tight bond.

What I love about it? It’s very forgiving. Just heat it up with a hairdryer or iron and it goes soft again ready for you to adjust.

The problem with it? It stinks!

Hide Glue warming in the pot

The veneering

The piece had lots of twisting grain and knots causing it to “bubble” up in places. Essentially, some parts of the wood had expanded more than others. To soften the wood I used a mixture of water, glycerine and denatured alcohol. I covered both sides of the veneer in this concoction, sandwiched it between two pieces of plywood, and waited. After a few hours, it had decided to give up and was laying perfectly flat. Time to rumble!

Splash on the glue, lay down the veneer, slide it around a little and then use a veneer hammer to push out all the excess glue. The video below shows this process from start to finish.

please install flash

The result

The table is coming along nicely. Some more finessing and finishing to do and we should be done and dusted.

Dry fit of the table with top

A hall table on my own

Posted on October 14, 2011 by Carl Joseph

This is part 1 of 3 in the series Hall table #2

Sheez, has it really been that long? Well, the weather hasn’t been conducive to start gazing and it’s been too cold to sit out in the workshop building stuff. This last couple of weeks though I’ve started up again and decided to build a hall table. The last hall table I built (which was also the first) was as part of a course at Ideal Tools. This time, I’m trying it on my own.

A colleague from work, Michael Green, provided me with a very nice piece of birdseye featured Huon Pine veneer. I’ve designed this table around that piece.

First up however is rough cutting the parts from a slab. I’m using one of the English Elm slabs I bought at auction a few years ago. Cutting up the slab took a fair bit of work and heavy lifting but after a good day’s work I got the result I was after.

Rough cut parts

To join the legs to the aprons, I would usually rush to the Festool Domino. This time I decided to cut some sliding dovetails. Some time spent at the router table and then with a chisel in hand produced an ok result. The fit is quite solid but not great enough to be exposed to viewers. This image is probably the last you will ever see of it before it gets covered up with the top.

Dovetailed corner

With the basic frame pieces done, I started work on finessing some of the shape. This began with tapering the legs. I used an inside taper, the same style I was taught at my course. The end result is quite pleasing and really gives the whole piece a light feel to it.

First dry fit

Moving onto the top, I had a number of options in mind. After playing around with a few pieces I’m settling on framing the huon pine top. The frame will be flush with the legs. This means I will need to plane the aprons down slightly so the frame can give a subtle shadow line around the piece. I’ll do this part once I have the frame cut to precise size.

Framed top - clamped in place

Hudson coffee table

Posted on July 14, 2011 by Carl Joseph

This is part 3 of 3 in the series Hudson dining table

After delivering their dining table, the owners of this new home asked me to build them a matching coffee table. Was I stoked? Totally! Unfortunately due to various illnesses, work and getting caught up in the summer night skies, it took me a lot longer to finish than I wanted. Now however, I’m finally ready to show it off.

As with their dining table, this one is designed by Steven Hanson (the guy who built their home). It is build using 100% recycled/reclaimed Australian timbers … Victorian Ash (lighter) and Queensland Spotted Gum (darker). A simple finish of Scandinavian Oil and a very thin layer of wax tops it off.

Here’s a video showing the last half of the build.

please install flash

Finished Hudson coffee table

Final inspect by Stanley

First night with a camera and telescope

Posted on February 26, 2011 by Carl Joseph

Like many young boys, I wanted one day to be an astronaut. Now at 30 something the closest I might get is looking through a telescope.

Last night was my first night at the Briars as a member of the Mornington Peninsula Astronomical Society (MPAS). The Briars is a 96 hectare historic park in Mt Martha. As well as a 1840s Homestead full of Napoleonic memorabilia, MPAS has its observation site based there.

After a bit of a chat with some other friendly members, setting up our scopes and doing something called “polar alignment” I was ready to start playing. The view through the StellarVue 105 f/6.3 Triplet APO Refractor is quite gorgeous. I decided to mount my basic Nikon D40 camera onto my scope and see if I could get some photographs.

Now, these definitely aren’t the best photos out there and I’m a little embarrassed to post them publicly given the spectacular images some people are producing these days. BUT … I’m quite happy with my first result and it will be a good reference point for me in the future to see how I might improve.

Great Orion Nebula

One of the most photographed sights in the night sky. This photograph by comparison could be classified as really bad, but for me, it was my first shot so I’m happy none-the-less!

Scope: StellarVue 105 f/6.3 Triplet APO Refractor
Camera: Nikon D40
Exposure: 2 x 30 seconds
ISO: 1600

Great Orion Nebula (M42 / NGC 1976)

Tucanae 47

One of my favourite sights in the night sky. Looks like a single star with the naked eye but on closer inspection it’s a collection of stars (globular cluster) some 120 light years wide! This photograph unfortunately is quite out of focus and has a fair bit of drift present. All items to keep practicing at!

Scope: StellarVue 105 f/6.3 Triplet APO Refractor
Camera: Nikon D40
Exposure: Single 30 second
ISO: 1600

47 Tucanae (NGC 104)

Saturn

One thing I quite enjoyed seeing but didn’t get a photograph of was Saturn. Rising quite late, it was the last object I viewed that night. What a spectacular sight. The view through the StellarVue was incredibly crisp. I had to push the magnification a bit to get a larger view but even then it was surprisingly bright and clear. For those number inclined …

Normal viewing through the StellarVue:

105mm aperture
f/6.3 focal ratio
661.5mm focal length

With the 2x barlow & a 6mm eyepiece:

1.323 metre focal length
Magnification of 220x

All in all, a quite successful first light for me as a MPAS member.

Starting a family history

Posted on January 13, 2011 by Carl Joseph

Over the last month, I’ve started to piece together my family history. As I come to publishing it online I realise how much private information it exposes. With a date of birth and a maiden name you can do a whole lot of damage to a person’s identity. So, with that realisation I have decided not to publicly publish this information. I will however write up some of the interesting facts and resources I encounter along the way.

My virtual family tree

What software am I using?

I researched and tried a small variety of genealogy software which is out there. In the end I settled on a product called Mac Family Tree.

It is extremely easy to use and seems to be quite powerful too. One of the most important features is that it is GEDCOM compatible. GEDCOM is a file format used to transfer genealogical data between various products.

One thing I intend to do with this GEDCOM format is to export it from Mac Family Tree and run it through a kind of website generator which will turn all the data into a navigable website for my family to use.

I also like this product because it can store all manner of factual information (e.g. dates, places, events) as well as more fluid types like stories, images, files, etc.

It displays a whole variety of reports and charts too which have already helped me pick up on some interesting facts and statistics occurring in my family.

What have I discovered so far?

There are some quite interesting stories about my maternal grandparents, my maternal grandfather and his father in-law. Discovering this didn’t require any digging through national archives. It was simply reaching out and asking people for any interesting stories and things they know.

Well, my grandparents were married by proxy. My grandfather had already moved to Australia (Queensland) and my grandmother was still in Italy. Before she would come to Australia she insisted that they get married. So they did, and it happened on opposite sides of the world.

My maternal great-grandfather (on my grandmother’s side) was Italian. In 1909 he jumped onto a boat and travelled to the USA to visit a family member there. He came through the Ellis Island port in New York so his entry records are available online. He was 29 at the time and travelled by himself from Sicily.

My maternal grandfather also had an interesting time during war times in Italy, but more on that another day.

On my father’s side, at my grandmother’s recent funeral, I saw a picture of my great-grandfather. The picture would have been taken in the late 1800s. The similarity between him, one of my uncles and my father is quite striking. Even more striking is how similar he looks to Mark Twain!

What’s next?

My next step is to fill in as many of the facts as I can. Mainly birth and death dates and locations. With this information I should be in a good position to start searching for various official documents like birth certificates and military records.