Sirius and the Pup

[Tinderboxsky]

The skies here in southern Tasmania were superb last night; about as good as it gets.

After exploring some tight double stars, I thought I would finish off with a look at the Pup. Sirius was near the Meridian and it has been quite some time since I have observed the Pup.

Using an eyepiece with an occulting bar, the Pup was easily observed wth Sirius behind the bar. It was relatively easy to maintain sight of the Pup when I moved the occulting bar away to fully expose Sirius. Looking back over my previous records, I described similar observations using the same equipment as “difficult but achievable”. So, definitely a rare, superb night last night.

Vixen NA140SS with Baader Classic Ortho (with occulting bar) and Televue 2X barlow giving 160X

[jahnpahwa]

Fantastic stuff, Steve!
Is the occulating bar something that you installed/modded yourself?

I noticed a bit of a high pressure system around east coast of tassie on BOM earlier this week, seems to be buffering you guys from the waves of lows that are smashing some of us... glad you've been able to make use of it :)

[Tinderboxsky]

Thanks for the feedback.

It is a DIY occulting bar. It is made from aircraft engineer’s grade aluminium adhesive tape which is simply stuck to the eyepiece’s field stop. Works a treat. The secret to these is to not have the bar obscuring the central area of the FOV. The central area has the best optical performance and is the spot to place the faint target.

[Allan]

Good observing Steve. Maximum separation is in 2023, though hardly more than it is now. So it doesn’t get much easier to see the Pup than at the moment. It wasn’t too challenging a while back in my TV76. Given it has a 50 year cycle we still have a good 15 years of easy observing in front of us.

[Tinderboxsky]

Thanks for your feedback, Allan.

[Tropo-Bob]

Nice Steve, well done.

[N1]

Hi Steve, just saw you thread on Sirius B - well done, and great methodology! Must try the Pup in one of my fracs some time when the seeing is good.

[Tinderboxsky]

Thanks for your feedback Bob and Mirko.