Theta Aurigae

[John]

While I'm waiting for the lunar eclipse to start I've been checking out some double stars with my 102mm ED refractor.

I was a little trepidacious about Theta Aurigae having read descriptions of some attempts with larger apertures but now it's a decent way above the horizon my little Vixen frac has done a lovely job of splitting this multiple star for me 

The closest components are A and B which are separated by (depending on who you believe !) between 3.5 and 4 arc seconds. Not a big deal until you consider the brightness difference between them, A is mag 2.6 and B is mag 7.6. At 190x the field also shows the mag 10.7 C component at around 55 arc seconds from A and the mag 10.1 D component which is a rather yawning 135 arc seconds from A. Together they form a sort of triangle with D being the furthest point.

10th magnitude stars should be well within the grasp of a 4" scope but tonight is the night of the "Supermoon" so the sky is suffused with moonglow even where Auriga is rising almost on the opposite side of the sky from the Moon.

A lovely grouping and a very pleasant way to while away some time while the shadow of the Earth makes it's stealthy way across the sky prior to engulfing the Moon later

[seo]

Nice and detailed observation report John. I'll look for them with my SCT when these terrible clouds and humidity (8 days now!) decide to go away. Thanks for sharing.

Clear skies.