Sirius A & B

[Dennis]

Just digging through some old images and I found this image of Sirius A & B. At the time, their separation was 10.9 arc sec.

According to SkyTools 3 Pro, the pair will open until they are separated by 11.3" in early 2023, when they will be an easy split. A previous minimum separation of 2.5" occurred in early 1992. At that time the position angle was changing by 73.5°/yr.

B is first white dwarf ever discovered; predicted by Bessel (1844) on the basis of the orbital motion of Sirius, it was first seen by Alvan Clark in 1862, and its peculiar high temperature, small size and great density established by W. Adams in 1925.

Cheers

Dennis

[RickS (Rick)]

Great image, Dennis! I was talking to IIS member lazgen about this double on the weekend at the AAQ meeting and I mentioned that you'd imaged it. How's that for a coincidence

Cheers,
Rick.

[Geoff45 (Geoff)]

Nice clear image Dennis

[Ryderscope (Rodney)]

One of the better Sirius A/B split images I'v seen.

[lazjen (Chris)]

Excellent. I'll add this to the list to try sometime.

[atalas]

Love It....great catch Dennis

[Dennis]

Thanks for all the comments folks, I appreciate them.

I’d just acquired the camera and was freewheeling on that night, so I didn’t record the quality of the seeing but I suspect it must have been above average to reveal the pup so cleanly.

Cheers

Dennis

[Rkonrad (Richard)]

Thanks as I dont really do AP I have never seen it ,will have a good look tonight but dont think I will see it

[Dennis]

Originally Posted by Rkonrad

Thanks as I dont really do AP I have never seen it ,will have a good look tonight but dont think I will see it

Thanks Richard and good luck!

Let us know how you get on, as I've never tried to see the pair visually.

Cheers

Dennis