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Finding double stars ?


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Hey all.

Yesterday I tried looking at double stars with my skymax 127. I used the 25mm eyepiece with a 2x barlow and without it. It did not seem possible for me to see any doubles. Do I need much more magnification or ?

I looked for Rigel but could not see any companion. I looked at Tegman and could not see any double and I looked at a couple other doubles with strange names. One was in Cassiopeia I know for sure.

So with 1500mm focal length and a 2x barlow and 20 mm eyepiece, should I not have enough magnification to be able to see doubles ?

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Have crack at Almach in Andromeda. Or, Polaris is a good target but a little harder. Sigma Orionis has several ellements as has the Trapezium in the Orion Nebula.

Regal is so bright that you will struggle to see much in its glare.

Good luck.

Paul

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interested in this thread too - as double chasing has become an interest of late. In time I hope to work through this list:

https://www.astroleague.org/al/obsclubs/dblstar/dblstar1.html

so far, for observation, I have mostly used the highest practical magnification (which in my case is 9mm with 1.5x Barlow in an f4 scope, 2x Barlow reveals no more detail) but no filtration

I am pondering getting a variable polariser to see if that helps in the separation

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If you search for "coloured double stars" on google you get (somewhere) a list from the Delaware Astro Soc. (DWAS ?)

That is a nice small list of (20 ??) doubles with contrasting colours.

Not sure but I do not think any are particularily difficult.

Somewhere I think I have the same list with the SAO designations included - not all scopes do all names and I think mine takes SAO's, well I hope it does otherwise I have wasted my time.

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If you use Stellarium,input your Scope/EP data and this will show you what you should see, there is a list od Double Stars in my SW Syscan Handset, never used it but i would think it will only show those that are visible for you location....

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If you have a goto and ask it to point at a star it MAY warn you that it is below the horizon, but since it has been told specifically to point at whatever there is a good chance that it will simply ram itself into the base. Afterall it is doing what you asked. Assume total and absolute stupidity.

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My idea for what I am gonna try since I do not have a laptop right now is see if I can run a long st4 cable from the handcontroller to my desktop inside. I might also connect my Phillips 900 webcam and see if I can sit inside on my big tvscreen and see anything. A project I am gonna try hehe.

Is any filters a good choice for viewing doubles ??? like UHC filter or anything ?

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Question....is it possible to picture the doubles with a Canon EOS 1100D on a Skymax 127 ? Would it give any good result ?

Doubles vary hugely in their separation and comparative brightnesses so will also vary in their ability to be imaged easily.

Some are very difficult sub arc second doubles, or perhaps the primary is much brighter than the secondary so the secondary is lost in the glare.

I would start with some simple, wide spaced and even brightness doubles such as Mizar/Alcor, Almaak and Alberio.

Mizar/Alcor is simple to find plus you can see whether you can split Mizar itself

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Is any filters a good choice for viewing doubles ??? like UHC filter or anything ?

Filters for doubles? No, I don't think so. You want to see the colours of the stars in all their natural glory. Though if you're trying to view a difficult one, like Sirius which blazes so bright it can make spotting it's companion nearly impossible, some folks have had good results with a polarizing-filter to dim-down Sirius itself.

Good luck on your webcam project,

Dave

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Filters for doubles?

A blue filter can reduce the Airy disk size and make a very close double star easier to split; a red filter cuts out most of the haze (mainly scattered blue light) around a bright primary like Sirius A, enabling you to see the Pup (Sirius B) more clearly on occasions.

Chris

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Question....is it possible to picture the doubles with a Canon EOS 1100D on a Skymax 127 ? Would it give any good result ?

If you're after imaging coloured doubles, there are a couple of things that can do to help to preserve the colour and prevent the stars simply being over exposed

1 - Shoot on as low an ISO setting as possible.

2 - keep the exposure as short as you need to capture the stars, no more.

I hope this helps.

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