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Double Stars in Volans
As other have mentioned, the number of observation reports has dwindled over recent years. I guess I should put my hand up as one of the culprits. I log all of my observations but time and other commitments seem to get in the way of going the next step and posting an observation report.
I was outside last night using Ross Gould’s Double Star article in AS&T for inspiration and resolved to put down an observation report. So here goes.
For most observing sessions, I start by taking time to explore the area I am interested in using a pair of wide field (9 deg true field) binoculars. Once I am familiar with the star patterns, observation targets and other points of interest I move onto seeking out the targets for the session. For this session all targets were found by star hopping.
Astronomical twilight finished about 11pm, the sky was dark and the seeing and transparency was superb. Stars showed a sharp condensed airy disk at high power with a faint steady first diffraction ring. It was the best sky for perhaps 9 months.
Gamma Vol. @ 62X (Mag 3.9,5.4, @ 14.4”) - fine unequal pair, bright yellow with pale yellow companion.
Zeta @ 62X (Mag 4.1,9.3 @ 15.6”) - easy wide pair, bright yellow-orange with very faint pale white companion.
HJ3997 @ 100 (Mag 7,7.1 @ 1.9”) - very close, virtually equal bright pale yellow beacons. 100X gave clear split even though quite close at 1.9”. This proved to be my favourite target for the night.
I9 @228X (Mag 7.3,7,5 @ 0.8”) - not a clear point like star compared with nearby stars of similar brightness at this magnification. Appeared slightly elongated. Definitely needs slightly more aperture to resolve.
Epsilon @100X (Mag 4.4,7.3 @ 6”) - unequal, moderately close pair, white with hint of yellow primary and very faint beautiful point of light for companion. Jewel like appearance.
I192 @ 160X (Mag 7.3,9.6 @ 1.8”) - this proved more difficult to find and then resolve. I was initially looking for the star amongst a nearby string of similar magnitude stars. With the companion being only 1.8” away and the delta magnitude being just over 2, clear resolution was slightly more difficult but still straight forward. The primary appeared faint cream and the close companion a simple pale speck.
Kappa @62X (Mag 5.3,5.6,7.7 @ 63” & 37”) - two bright bluish-white beacons with a slightly fainter but still bright nearby star forming an arc that stood out as a beacon in the relatively sparse FOV.
HRG 19 @ 100X (7.3,10 @ 4.4”) - very unequal close pair, faint orange primary and pale white companion. The nearby optical pairings that Ross referred were worth a visit.
Scope: Vixen NA140SS on TRex mount and LVW 13, 8, 5 & 3.5 eyepieces.
Navigation: Toshimi Taki Atlas of Double Stars and Sky Safari Plus.
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