The best doubles to split

[Astralstroll]

What are some easy and challenging coubles to have a go at splitting thias time of the year??

Dave.

[John]

Epsilon Lyra - the famous "double double" is well positioned. It's near Vega. Iota Cassiopeia is a great triple star. Delta Cygnus is a decent test as it's an unequal brightness pair. Pi Aquilla is a tight equal brightness pair. Much easier but still lovely to view is Albeiro in Cygnus with it's strongly contrasting colours, Mizar in Ursa Major is always worth a look as is spotting the 9th magnitude companion of Polaris.

Thats a few to start with - there are many, many more of course !

[Astralstroll]

Funnily enough, I never had much time for double splitting until recently. I have recently put a setting circle on my Dob to use with an inclinometer. Anyway, the other night I was aligning it using Polaris, and I spotted the Polaris double. Shows how sad I was, I had to go and check my astro books to convince myself I wasnt imagining it. Its a challenge at ~50x in the Dob, but a beautiful sight at ~ x100. I am now somewhat hooked after finding yet more interesting observational challenges. Alcor and Myzar are on my list, but at the moment my neighbours roof is thwarting the came with the Dob. The double double in Lyra sounds good though as I can still see Vega overhead! I will let you know how I get on in my quest.

Dave.

[TheNorthernMonkey]

I managed to see my first double 2 nights ago, in Cassiopiea. I'm going to look for a few more of them next time I'm out.

Possibly tonight if the sky stays clear

[John]

On some summer nights, when it does not get very dark, binary stars are all that's worth looking at !

[acey]

The "Herschel 500" is a selection of double stars discovered by William Herschel, ranging from binocular objects to ones requiring 10" or more - plenty to keep anyone going all year round.

http://www.handprint.com/ASTRO/Herschel500.html

[spaceboy]

I found this a useful site for doubles http://www.richardbell.net/DoubleStars/double_stars.html

[TheThing]

Useful links, thank you.

TheThing

[alan potts]

Up until I came to England last week i was still spending a great deal of time trying to split Antares. I would like to hear from anyone that has, I am beginning to think it is beyond my equipment.

Alan

[MartyB1973]

Using a Goto Scope they are very easy to find. Providing the house doesnt get in the way first. Just get the list up on the handset and press go :-)

[ely_ellis]

Good website for the doubles, thanks for the link.

Enjoy splitting double, but I tend to spend a lot of time at each one rather than just see it and move on.

Plenty of time to observe, the stars may change positions, but they will always be there.