Difficulties with Proxima

bojan · #1 21-09-2006, 09:57 PM

Does anybody have a reasonable finding chart or photo of this gem?
I tried couple of times to positively identify it among many stars visible in the field of my dob, but so far I am still not quite sure which one it is

....
By studying the numerous fotographs it seems to be easy, but it turns out those photos show too many stars.. and the finding charts I have are not showing enough

.
Could anybody help me, please?

robagar · #2 22-09-2006, 08:10 AM

hi bojan,

take a look at this chart of Proxima generated with Starry Night. I found that the asterism I've marked in red stood out as a clear pattern - they form a right angle, and helpfully the star nearest Proxima is out of position and points towards it. Then it was easy enough to identify the triangle marked in green, with Proxima at the tip.

It probably helped me that mag 11 is about the faintest I can see clearly with my 8" here in Cairns, so there were not too many dim stars around to confuse matters.

The circle is approximately 1 degree across, btw.

Good luck!

Rob
_______

bojan · #3 22-09-2006, 08:42 AM

Thank you

.
I remember clearly seeing that asterism...
I will try tonight, if weather permits.

Blue Skies (Jacquie) · #4 22-09-2006, 07:34 PM

I found it using the chart at the back of Sky Atlas 2000. Although I love my Herald-Bobroff the finder chart in that was not so good for it.

bojan · #5 22-09-2006, 07:50 PM

Thanks guys for your help...
Unfortunatelly, nothing will happen tonight (except wind and rain here in Melbourne, well we need it badly anyway).
Now when I have checked my notes and compared them with Rob's chart, and with the charts I generated with the help of CdC, I know now that I have seen it couple of weeks ago on at least two occasions, and I am pretty sure it will not be a problem to find it again, on the first clear night :-)

bojan · #6 24-09-2006, 08:47 PM

The hole in the clouds opened in right direction, and it was there long enough for me to finally and positively identify Proxima

.
I even glimsed the red colour, I hope it was not only my imagination.
Very helpul asterism for me to find it was the crescent (indicated in red) with the star rougly in its centre, together with Rob's somewhat distorted Cassiopeia-like asterism.
I attached the chart generated with CdC, and the circle is roughly my 20mm Zeiss Hygens eyepiece, 45' FOV diameter.
Thanks again for your help, guys..
Bojan

robagar · #7 25-09-2006, 08:24 AM

yay, well done! satisfying isn't it?

What scope are you using? I couldn't quite decide if I could distinguish the colour, as it's so dim through my 8". But it looked somehow dim for its magnitude compared to other whiter stars, if you know what I mean.

robagar · #8 25-09-2006, 08:25 AM

ah just spotted your sig - 10" dob I see

bojan · #9 25-09-2006, 08:55 AM

Yes, very satisfying :-)
I think the last time (when I was not sure about its identity) I was relying too much on goto function. This time I used only charts :-). After this exercise I believe I will be able to find it again without any problems.
The light pollution in Melbourne is awful, and from where I am, Proxima's direction was almost right above the city, so even with 150x (9mm eyepiece) the background was very obvious.
In the next couple of evenings I will try some photos :-)

robagar · #10 25-09-2006, 01:36 PM

dob 1 goto 0

bojan · #11 25-09-2006, 01:49 PM

Yep :-)

mickoking · #12 25-09-2006, 03:51 PM

When I saw Proxima earlier in the year I was questioning if I could see it's red colour or if I was imagining it?

bojan · #13 25-09-2006, 07:29 PM

I will try to confirm the colour in the next couple of weeks, when Moon is gone... and perhaps from darker site :-)