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Old 29-05-2011, 08:57 PM
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Rev (Greg)
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Saturn and Porrima - a double treat?

Hi all, in spite of the unsteady seeing and patches of haze I enjoyed the double treat of Saturn and Porrima (gamma Virginia) in the same telescopic field of view. Porrima in itself is a real treat as a bright matching pair, close double? It split cleanly in the 14" but I couldn't split it with my 80mm refractor.

Are any viewers having success in splitting Porrima with smaller apertures?
Greg B.
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Old 30-05-2011, 09:18 PM
Saturnine (Jeff)
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G'day Greg

I have been enjoying the pairing of Saturn and Porrima over the past weeks and the seeing last Friday and Saturday nights was very good as evidenced by some of the images that have been posted. Can definitely split Porrima with the 102mm F9 refractor at 150X and at 250X the gap between the two Airy discs is about the same as the diameter of the Airy discs themselves. Have tried to split with an 80mm scope and at 200X in steady moments the Airy disc looks oval, almost hourglass in shape.

Jeff
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Old 30-05-2011, 09:39 PM
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Rev (Greg)
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Thanks Jeff, nice to know. Steady skies here on the coast are few and far between. Nice to know it isn't just my aging eyes making it hard to split Porrima in the 80mm.
Greg.
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Old 30-05-2011, 10:05 PM
Saturnine (Jeff)
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The cure for aging eyes is to just get bigger scopes but on a more serious note, on Fri. night ( 27th ) out with a few fellow club members and using my 200mm F6 dob, Porrima was an easy split at 200X, could've driven the proverbial bus between them ( a technical term !) and in steady seeing moments, lots of them, the Cassini Division in Saturns rings was also quite evident.
To gauge how good the conditions were and if the scope was performing as it should I tried and succeeded in splitting Gamma Circinus , Mag 5.0 / 5.7 , Sep 0.8" , at 300X , which was the first time I have had success with that particular double.

Jeff
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Old 30-05-2011, 10:10 PM
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Brian W (Brian)
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The skies cleared off for a few hours tonight and I managed the split at 200x in our 8" LB. Very nice.
Brian
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Old 07-06-2011, 11:59 AM
David_W (Dave)
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I had clear skies last Friday (3rd June) and had a great view of Porrima and Saturn in the same field of view at 40X through my new Tak TOA-130NS. The colour difference between the two was very nice to see (it is with the naked eye too).

At 77X I could see Porrima as an elongated peanut shape and the star was very clearly split at 278X. I also got to see Antares B that night (also at 278X), which has been managed a few times before, but is by no means easy. Never managed Sirius B yet..

Thanks for the post about Gamma Circinus, will give that one a go next clear sky, although not looking good for the next few days..

Cheers.
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Old 09-06-2011, 07:33 AM
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Rev (Greg)
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Thanks Dave for the comments. I tried again the other night and could only manage a peanut shaped Porrima in the wo 80. Maybe on one of those very steady nights it may be possible in an 80. I haven't had success with Sirius yet either. Even with the 14". I followed a few treads that spoke of finds in much smaller scopes but I'm not so sure... I thought I managed it a few times only to discover the pup i found was an internal reflection of Sirius in the eyepiece. I'll keep trying though!

Greg.
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