Sirius and the Pup.....again

[chiltonstar]

Despite the everlasting, dreadful weather here in S. Central UK, I managed to get my 5" mak out tonight for half an hour before the rain started again. Although there was a light haze, and a lot of light scatter from the Moon, I had another look at Sirius - I split it recently for the first time after a lot of looking (years!). Against all my expectations, the Pup was immediately obvious and was well split at x150 from Sirius A - far better than before when the seeing was actually far better. Difficult to explain....?

Chris

[Moonshane]

I've never managed it with numerous scopes, eyepieces and magnifications. maybe someday....

[southernman]

Might have to give it a go. Sirius is nice and high for me at this time.

[lunator]

Chris

Well done on the split (again)

In my experience Seeing is King when it comes to splitting pairs and the Moon glow will not be a major factor on the Pup as it is Mag 8.5 and the Moon glow only seems to 'wash out' stars fainter than Mag9.5 in my experience

Cheers

Ian

[Marki]

Nice one Chris. Had a go with my 125mm f9 last night after reading your post - pushed to x150, x167 and x225, but not a hint. To be fair the seeing from my location was rubbish (in part because it was relatively low and over the roofs of nearby houses), so still no success with this target for me yet .

[John]

I've had the same experience as Shane - years, of trying, lots of scopes tried, up to 12" aperture, top quality eyepieces, great conditions on occasions but still no joy.

Well done though Chris on a 2nd split. Sounds like the scope hardly had time to cool either. You must be doing something right

[badgerchap]

...Difficult to explain....?

Lots of luck?

[chiltonstar]

Luck....certainly, and a good line of sight over fields, but I wonder too if it's something to do with the light sky background from the haze/moon. In other posts, it's been stated that you can see the Pup best against an early dawn sky, which I suppose is a bit like moonlight/haze. Maybe this lowers the apparent visual contrast of Sirius A, and makes B more see-able?

Chris

[Moonshane]

quite possible Chris - it's a constant on my hit list.

[Dave]

Well done Chris. That's one of the targets for my wish list as they are now getting a bit further apart.

Haze or a twilit sky frequently help to subdue the brilliance of the primary making it easier to split.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Haze and moonlight can help reduce the glare from Sirius A. Besides, point source is not hindered that much by moonlight, as others have noted.

Congrats on your split. I should have a go when the sky clears (tomorrow, perhaps).

[alan potts]

Well done Chris, it can't be easy from the UK, I know many years ago I tried from Hull with my 12.5 inch Newt and never had any luck on it, it was always over the top of roofs not that far away.

Apart from being much higher here I also don't have any roofs near by, to the south I have nothing for about quarter of a mile and it is down hill so any viewing is way above any house even if I am close to the horizon.

I have no idea what is was but I was looking at a star earlier that was on the mountain top 20 miles away, it was really steady considering where it was.

Alan.