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Guide to double stars - advice please


Helen

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Hi,

I've recently got a Telementor and I love it!  At 63mm its not going to be a deep sky scope, but stars with the matching orthos are amazing (and the Moon is just awesome!).  So I thought I'd start observing double stars.  Can anyone recommend a good book and/or good websites?

Many thanks

Helen

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Hi,

I've recently got a Telementor and I love it!  At 63mm its not going to be a deep sky scope, but stars with the matching orthos are amazing (and the Moon is just awesome!).  So I thought I'd start observing double stars.  Can anyone recommend a good book and/or good websites?

Many thanks

Helen

Re book: many of us like the Sissy Haas book.

Chris

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The Cambridge double star atlas is a good one to start with. My main source however is the Saguaro Astronomy Club (forgive the spelling) catalogue, download free off tinternet as excel spreadsheet, very informative and extensive.

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Thanks everyone.

The Telementor is manual, so I'll be star hopping with a Telrad.  Would that make a difference to the recommendations?

Helen

The Cambridge atlas has a nice set of charts as well (cf Sissy's book) but is difficult to get at the mo. Good though!

Chris

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Helen I love to use my 4" Astro Tech APO frac to go double star hunting. I bought the Sissy Haas book from Sky and Telescope and use the Cambridge Double Star atlas to support it. I note that the Cambridge Double star atlas is silly money at the moment but it might be available at Astrofest in February.  http://www.amazon.co.uk/Double-Stars-Small-Telescopes-Stargazing/dp/1931559325 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cambridge-Double-Star-Atlas/dp/0521493439/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1416939815&sr=8-2&keywords=cambridge+double+star+atlas

There are a number of list around - here are a few

http://www.astroleague.org/al/obsclubs/dblstar/dblstar2.html

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/pretty-double-stars-for-everyone/1/?c=y

http://www.jouscout.com/astro/belmont/belmontd.htm

I would think that the Telementor would be brilliant on doubles especially having looked through yours a few months back

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Another vote for the excellent Cambridge Double Star Atlas (if you can get it) and for Sissy Haas's excellent 'double stars for small telescopes'

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Double-Stars-Small-Telescopes-Stargazing/dp/1931559325

Norton's star atlas deals with doubles pretty well and includes some nice descriptions.  The Webb Society also sell a nice  guide to visual doubles including sketches.  Jeremy Perez's sketching website includes some lovely representations of doubles as well.

http://www.perezmedia.net/beltofvenus/

The beauty of a small high quality scope is that coloured doubles don't get burned out, so colour rendition is excellent.  Using orthoscopics will also mean you keep good colour fidelity

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Thanks for all the recommendations :smile:  The obvious enjoyment you all get from doing this is encouraging too!  I'm hoping it'll be fun to do while the imaging rig is doing its thing, or when I just fancy a bit of grab and go :smile

Thanks again

Helen

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  • 2 weeks later...

the Haas book and Cambridge Atlas are great but even the modest Sky and Telescope Atlas is great for doubles. The good thing with a non specialist book is that you don't know what it is supposed to look like so make a note and see if it agrees with the online descriptions or the Haas book after you look at the star to confirm you were not making it up!  :grin:

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