Give doubles a go

[bigjoe]

Whilst I was waiting for Jupiter to rise higher in the sky last night, (being mostly cloudy here in Concord); I grew bored and decided a solution might be to have a look at some famous doubles.

Went over to Rigel and it was loverly in the Mak or Refractor or Sct ; then over I went to Beta Monoceros; WOW! It"s a triple and looks spectacular; and if that wasn't enough, over to Iota Cancri , (the autumn Albireo) at low power, which looked even more spectacular as far as astronomical objects go.

Just wondering if more of us are doing just this, as it seems it is one great way to kill the time, whilst waiting to observe something else.

PS: As soon as I get a chance I will try for the "Pup" in Sirius!

Cheers bigjoe.:)

[Tinderboxsky]

I am certainly hooked on chasing double stars as part of my observing sessions. I try to add about 10 new double star targets a month to my observing lists. Not sure how many in total I have bagged; would have to go back through my logs to count.
I have also contributed observations to the Sissy Hass double star project that was covered in the Jan issue of AS&T. Some of those targets really tested one's observing skills and equipment.
Cheers

Steve

[bigjoe]

Hello Steve; sounds like your a legend at this!

It looks like I too, am now going to be hooked more often, into chasing these beautiful and vastly underrated double/multiple star systems, and info concerning their histories, spectral types , separations, etc

I urge all, to more often give this a go when you have spare time.

Cheers bigjoe.:)

[Bombardon]

Great suggestion, Joe. I too love dipping into the Sissy Hass list. I was after a new Herschell 400 number in Puppis last night(93?) before the deluge of dew, and loved my first look at NGC 2467, which is like a baby 'Hamburger' (Centaurus A gal) and while in the area I revisited the stunning Kappa Puppis. This is a lovely area of the Milky Way and my finderscope soon led me to the lovely clusters 2546 and 2451 further south. Because I neglected Germini last season' I got on to the Eskimo Neb (pn 2392) and loved the detail, but a fogging finder started to make life difficult.
There was the blazing Jupiter just coming up over my shed. 11 p.m. and tired limbs and dew on everything. I'm off to bed. Very transparent sky after all these weeks but wet. wet. wet!:sadeyes:

[bigjoe]

Yes Eugene.

The Sissy Hass list should be part of everyone's observing!

Our very own IIspacer has contributed to it.

Easy for small scopes ; yes the Eskimo is great in light pollution even.

It's amazing what's around Puppis /Vela/Crux!!

bigjoe.

[Bombardon]

Hi Joe,
At the risk of boring you I will mention h3945 in Can Ma again. I never miss a visit at the 'pulcherrima' of the south. Cloud again tonight so we have to hang on to great memories of last night!

[bigjoe]

That's my favorite !!

And so few know about it!!!!

bigjoe.

[Bombardon]

Joe: Rigel is great on a clear night. The 'pup' defeats me in my soppy skies but I seem to remember that somebody in our ASNSW many years ago suggested a five sided mask that interrupt the spikes of the primary and reveal the pup. If anyone reading this is familiar with this technique I would like to try it again. [I have successfully added a centre bar(tinfoil) at the focal point of an eye lens to an old eyepiece and easily spotted Phoebus and Dimos at a good Mars conjunction.]

[bigjoe]

Wish I knew this one, but I've only tried variable polarizing filters just to get rid of the glare on Sirius ,Venus etc.

And yes Rigel is amazing as is Almaak, Izar and Antares in a good Mak/refr; you can drive a truck through the pair not so easy in a Sct.

Time to go home.


Cheers bigjoe.:)

[grimsay]

Joe - You can see the Eskimo from light pollution? I tried last night with my 8" dob but couldn't find it for life of me from Newcastle... I must be looking in the wrong place :( felt pretty confident though?

The skies were defineley clearer and I managed to split my first double - Rigel - looking forward to more :)

[rustigsmed]

I'm not exactly sure of the technique but check this out for inspiration
http://www.cloudynights.com/uploads/gallery/album_4746/gallery_217007_4746_73829.jpg

[Bombardon]

Looks interesting, Russell and I have seen those in column 3 before but have not spoken to anyone who has used it. The pup is pretty wide just now so I'll try a moon filter on a really steady night when my next dry westerly clears all this humidity away. Thanks

[bigjoe]

Hi Iain.

Good to hear you split Rigel; you'll get addicted to some of the others mentioned!

I myself don't find it too hard to bag the "Eskimo"; it may not be as doable as the Blue Planetary ( NGC 3918) in centaurus , or "The Ghost of Jupiter (NGC 3242), but it should be easy enough if the seeing is good.
I've seen it many times in even a 5" Mak!

Cheers bigjoe

[bigjoe]

A thanks from myself too Russell.

bigjoe.

[MichaelSW]

Thanks for this thread.

There's nothing like a pretty double to demonstrate the contrast in star colours to people. The only one I reliably know to go to in my sky tours is Albireo. Blue and Yellow does it for me - the colours of my old school footy jersey, and colour patch worn by my old mates of the 2/14th Australian Infantry Battalion.

I'll have to do a bit more research for other examples.

[Bombardon]

Burnham and Hartung were great double star observers, if you have their books. Hartung loves quoting other observers' double colours and he often disagrees. This makes the double observing so interesting; many seasoned observers greatly differ in their colour estimates. Sometime soon now a very helpful observer that reads these posts will give us a link to the best coloured doubles' list. I had them somewhere but they are long gone!

[bigjoe]

Eugene .This might help.


If. I remember correctly www.eaglecreekobservatory.org. link to doubles.

[Bombardon]

Well done, Joe! I knew you had it in you :) Found this linl at S&T
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/celestial-objects-to-watch/pretty-double-stars-for-everyone/

[bigjoe]

Well I guess you either have it or you dont.:P

Really though I'll check S&T

bigjoe.