Splitting Rigel

[Space Dragon]

I didn't even realise Rigel was a double, until the other night scanning around randomly, came across a pairing I hadn't noticed before and for a second I thought it was Sirius and Pup.......of course it wasn't but was easily split in the 925.

Slewed over to Sirius and the Pup......not a sniff of a split.

[Jason D]

Last night I was observing Rigel B and Sirius B (the Pup) when I recalled this thread.

Here is a tip on how to spot Sirius B:

1. Observe and split Rigel. If you can't then stop here. No point to proceed to Sirius. If you manage to split Rigel cleanly then make a "mental" note of Rigel B location in the eyepiece. You can reference the diffraction spikes if your scope has them.
   
2. Go to Sirius. The Pup will be located 90 degrees clockwise in reference to Sirius A/B vs. Rigel A/B and at about the same apparent distance but it will be less than 50% fainter. The clockwise orientation is based on a Newtonian reflector.
   
3. If Rigel B if very close to one of the diffraction spikes then do not bother looking for Sirius B.
   

Once I figured out the above tip, finding Sirius B has been an easy and a frequent event. I live in California and seeing here is not too bad most of the time. That helps too.

Jason