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Finding double stars ?

Cloengaa

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Cloengaa

Cloengaa

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Hey all.

I am just wondering.....finding double stars with named stars that would be in Stellarium or a goto handcontroller is easy.

but what when it comes to stars not in these programs ? Do you starhop to these or what do you do ???

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webboid

webboid

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Ahh that is an option. But what if lets say you dont have a goto ?

I use one of my star atlas/maps & star hop. It takes longer & my home skies don't show too many guide stars(mag 4.5 at best) so the hop may be long & it is easy to get lost. But it works. Before goto I might bag two or three doubles per hour. With goto 20 or more sometimes. That's why I got it.

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chiltonstar

chiltonstar

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If you have a half-decent mount, you can use the setting circles. Old fashioned but does work. Align the scope, choose a bright star nearby and set the RA for this, and then wind the two axes to the chosen target.

If I'm going to a series of targets, I start a stopclock when I align the RA setting, and then correct the RA coordinates for the new target (from eg Norton's) for elapsed time to allow for the fact that the stars are swinging round but the RA scale isn't.

This way, with my old Vixen SP, I get to about 1 degree of target with rough aligning, nearer if I spend some time on it.

Chris

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Gazabone

Gazabone

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It's great to hear someone using setting circles and finding they work, from what I've read elsewhere they just aren't accurate enough. I guess they must take a lot of getting used to but want to give it a try. I have a SW EQ3-2 mount (and an RA motor that arrived today) so keen to try it the hard way....... Will probably end up going back to the GoTo though.

The main reason for getting the motor was to take better solar pics but if I can get the hang of setting circles I'll be well chuffed with myself, seems to be a great way to learn your way around the sky, if we get any clear nights that is!

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Perseus_m45

Perseus_m45

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Well I am glad I have a goto system...I will give it a try...have never really used the RA DEC feature in it.

hello Christian, Once you get used to using setting circles its a joy really . Far more accurate then you might think. When I work as an observer at the Allegheny Observatory in Pittsburgh that's all we ever used to find an object. But you have to understand I did not have to set up and start from scratch every time.  The set up and take down is the real [removed word] here . Also the newer mounts have much smaller make believe setting circles these days. For and example take a look at the older Unitron  gem setting circles. So really star hopping is your only other option . Its a great way to learn the sky indeed. As for myself If I were to have to get a mount that I needed to assemble and disassemble all the time I would have to go with the ( iOptron MiniTower Pro)

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Cloengaa

Cloengaa

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I thought I was gonna try it last nite as when I got home from work it was a clear night. I then found out that I first had to charge my Iphone and my camera before going out so an hour late when I got out it was cloudy....I did manage to get focus with my 127 skymax on a star so I have focus for next session.

Living in Sweden...I would guess the same height as northern England, do you have any doubles that really would be a must see ??? suggestions suggestions hehe.

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wxsatuser

wxsatuser

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A nice easy and interesting multiple is Alcyone (Eta Tauri) in M45.

This is a five star system with Alcyone A being an eclipsing binary, the stars separated by about 0.031 arcsecs.

B and C are white A type stars with C being a Delta Scuti type, separation is 117 and 181arcsecs respectively.

D is yellow white F type star with a separation of 191arcsecs.

alcyone1.jpg

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Stu

Stu

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Iota Cass is a fave of mine.

Just had a lovely view of this, strangely I've not seen it before. Very nice indeed :-).

Going to try Nick's suggestion later on if it clears the trees, not seen it for quite a while

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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ely_ellis

ely_ellis

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Bit late to the thread, sorry.

I have Goto (CG5) and connect the mount to Stelarium. If I enter RA and Dec in the search function (taken from DSA or anywhere really), then use Stelarium to control the mount, I find it much easier than entering RA and Dec directly into the Goto hand controller..

On the manual side, then star hopping is the obvious way, but I am hopeless at it, I can't seem to gauge distances, so when I use my manual mount (for quick set-up), then I found setting circles to be actually quite easy to use.

Just a quick and dirty polar align first though, then point at a bright star, set the RA and Dec for that star on the setting circles, then swing the scope round to the RA and Dec of the wanted target. You can keep returning to the bright star to reset the setting circles as time goes by so it will remain accurate.

I have an CG4 manual mount too and doing it this way can be remarkable fast and accurate at locating the target. This is of course dependent upon the magnification used, the higher it is the harder to locate accurately, but it is worth a try, you do feel like you have accomplished something when you can use setting circles!

Merry Christmas All

Martin

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