Sirius

[joebee]

What a beautiful and bright star Sirius is, just can't get over the light beams radiating from it, Canopus is close behind as well. Had a look at Orions belt and at Rigel and Saiph and in between them HIP25092 which is a whopping 2470 light years away then onto Canopus and away to Achenar. Probably not the best night of viewing because of the brightness of the moon, but a good nigh anyway.

[Rodstar]

Hey Joe!

One of the great joys I had when I first started looking at the sky was finding all of the double stars. Many of the brighter stars in the sky have a little binary star if you know where to look.

For example, Sirius has a little companion called, "The Pup", not the Australian cricket captain, but a white dwarf which is well hidden because of Sirius' tremendous glare. On a very still night, you might like to try to locate the Pup - let us know how you get on.

Other neat doubles in and around Canis Major and Orion include: Adhara, Aludra, Furud, Alnilam, Theta Orionis (the trapezium of stars at the heart of M42), Alnitak and my favourite - Sigma Orionis.

Doubles are good to observe during the period leading up to and just past full moon, as deeper sky objects tends to be "washed out" by the moon's glare. For deep sky objects, the key period is around new moon, when the sky is lot darker, and there is much better contrast on objects.

I look forward to hearing further about your night exploits!

[barx1963]

Also Rigel has a little companion, should be easy in the 12" with moderate power. 100x with the 15mm should show it. It appears as a little speck just below the primary star. I use it to give an idea of how good the seeing is, if it is hard to see at moderate power, seeing is a bit crappy!

Malcolm