lunator

Nigella Excellent images 😁 2 of my favourite craters Cheers Ian

Welcome to SGL 🙂. I would recommend joining an astro society. Ewell AS is very good society and is only 30 mins up the A3. Cheers Ian

Very good pics 🙂 Had a good view of the Sun today in WL & Ha the activity is fantastic and you have caught it really well.

A very neat project. 🙂 Cheers Ian

I think the Che ones are not as bad as Jonckheere ones. 😊 But I think they still a bit fainter. Cheers Ian

Hi Michael From experience some of the later double star observers were slightly over optimistic on the magnitudes of the pairs. I had an email conversation with Brian Mason about how much fainter Jonckheere doubles are compared to their listed magnitudes in the WDS.. This may have something to do with it. Cheers Ian

Hi Tico Go onto FLO's website and search for Double star books. This will give you s veral options. Cheers Ian

Hi Tico Any telescope can work on doubles. If your budget is limited then try and get the best you can find for the money. I have used refractors, Newtonians, and Maks. All can give excellent views. Cheers Ian

Yes we are😁 Got 7 of various FL and I'm not selling them Cheers Ian

Hi Richard Very good sketch. 🙂. It is always interesting how the light changes which features stand out. Cheers Ian

Survey completed. I was out with the 15x70's last night for a quick 20min session. Everywhere I looked I could see satellites...

Yep, the book is inspired by the Sissy Haas book.🙂 I own it and have used it. My only frustration was the labelling of the pairs selective and so I sought to standardize on SAO/HD numbers where possible.

Here are a couple of pics of the inside of the book. I hope they are clear enough. Cheers Ian

It is available at FLO now 🙂 Cheers Ian

The doubles listed in the book are data entries. I only have a few dozen images. The core of the book is the 2000+ data entries with accurate information from the WDS including additional components. Many books list a main component and completely miss out another one that might be closer or fainter. I would love to produce a book with all my photos and sketches but that would run to several volumes 😁.

Very good sketches Hercules does have some lovely doubles to view. Cheers Ian

A managed to get the 200mm dob out for a quick session. I used Vega to check on the alignment of the finder and then ad a quick look at M57. At x37.5 it appears as a pale grey circle. A few doubles in Her. STF2165AB w/b A fairly wide pair the primary is white, the secondary is pale blue. STF2165AC w/nc 'C’ Component lies some distance away STF2301 y/y A wide pair if yellow primary and a pale blue secondary. Very rich field. STF2309 w/w A close pair of white stars, just split at x60. Best view at x100 magnification. STF2312 w/w A close pair of white stars. Split at x150. A small difference in magnitude. STF2360 w/b A close Pair with a white primary and a pale blue secondary. Part of a neat right angled triangle asterism. STF2399AB w/w A neat triple The primary and secondary are white. Part of a triangular asterism. With SHY309 STF2399AC w/nc The ‘C’ component is fainter and doesn’t show any colour. A few doubles in Serpens STF2324 w/w A close pair of white stars just split at x150. A similar bright star lies some distance away. AG224 w/nc A wide uneven pair The primary is white, the secondary shows no colour. Shares field with STF2361. STF2361 w/w A wide pair of white stars with a slight difference in magnitude. Cheers Ian

I'll have a look. I have split STF1768 but it took x180 to get a nice clean split. This was using a 10" scope so not really a challenge 😁

That is an excellent result. For the 60mm you should be able to split pairs separated by ~1.9" and a delta Mag of ~2-2.5. I'll have a dig into the WDS to see if there are any suitable pairs. Cheers Ian

Hi The 60mm kid This looks afun project. I don't have any suitable scopes but will follow with interest. From experience of using my 70mm scope you can push the mag to x140+ on a good night and should be able to observe pairs down to 2" with a Delta M of 2.5.They won't be split but they will be 2 objects. It will be hard but rewarding 😁 Cheers Ian

Hi John, It is a lovely part of the world. I was enjoying the general darkness. Being back in Bucks just reminds me how bad LP has got over the last 10 years. I hope to enjoy darker skies once I have moved but it looks like I will be South of the A303 so it little bit away from the levels. Cheers Ian

I have to agree. I have an F6 200mm Newt. It used to be on a GEM. If you got the collimation spot on and the seeing was good then the performance of the scope was amazing. It is worth the effort to aim for the best collimation you can.

It will be available very soon. 😁 Cheers Ian

I had a week on the Levels in Somerset. A cottage in Henley. The skies were listed as Bortle 4, but we're right in the limit of 3. There was a small amount of light pollution form Bridgwater in the North West and Street to the North East. I managed to get out on 3 nights couldn't stay up too late as the the trip was also a bit of a house hunting trip 🙂. On all 3 nights the Milky Way was clear and the dark dust lanes were very obvious. Although I had an observing plan I spent a lot of time with the 32mm/70° eyepiece which gave ~1.9° TFOV just sweeping along the Milky Way marveling at the sheer number of stars. M13 looked like a bright ball of stars at the low mag individual stars weren't obvious. Stopped off at Cor Caroli on my way to M51. I had my second best view of M51. Some definite structure and the bridge was obvious. (The best was SGL2 in the Brecon Beacons. 12" telescopes vs my 8" and slightly darker skies and younger eyes 😁) I did observe 4 doubles as that's what I do 🙂 100.Herc. A beautiful bright double. A definite showpiece. STF1702: A wide pair with a moderate difference in magnitude. The primary is yellow, the secondary pale blue. STF2159: A wide pair with a moderate difference in magnitude. The primary is white, the secondary s pale orange. A fairly rich field STF2165: A fairly wide pair of uneven magnitude. A white primary and a pale blue secondary. A 3rd stars lies some distance away.. Cheers Ian

I still have mine. I have used it for measuring doubles. Definitely a useful eyepiece Cheers Ian