Cracking double star for binos.....

[NGC 1502]

Hi all.

Last evening (Thurs 12th) there was some patchy high thin cloud at my location, not enough to keep me in, so I went out with my tripod mounted 10x50s.

Albireo was split (cannot do that hand held), Coathanger nice, star hopped down to M11 and was surprised how easy it was to see in bins from my back yard with the first quarter moon up. M27 eluded me, need a small scope for that from here.

Anyway, to the point. Scanning around, I chanced on a cracking double. Went in for my charts, learned it was Alya, theta Serpens Cauda, or Struve 2417.

Cambridge Double star atlas says :- Mags 4.6, 4.9, 22" separation. Check it out, a fine sight indeed.

Regards, Ed.

[Stu]

Sounds like a nice one Ed. My Double Star app lists this one and shows it as 22.6" separation as you say, but it suggests it is a telescopic binary with a suggested magnification of x33.

I've not really considered what sort of separation binos would split but your experience suggests it is do-able, and thinking about it I believe have just about split Mizar a/b with my 15x50's and that is 14".

Was it a tricky split or quite easy?

Cheers,

Stu

[NGC 1502]

It was an easy split Stu, I wasn't looking for it, just scanning around, it popped into view and I was surprised I'd not noticed it before.

It reminded me of the telescopic view of gamma Aries, Struve 180, nickname the 'cat's eyes".

All the best, Ed.

[Stu]

Thanks Ed, will have a look out for it.

Cheers

Stu

[Stu]

Got this one last night with the binos. Very nice it was too. Easy split, but close enough to look great.

I also just about managed Struve 3012 as suggested, but as below mag 9 stars with a full moon nearby they were very tricky. In general I can get to around mag 9.5 with my binos at home, so a bit of averted vision was needed to split them. Will revisit when the moon is out of the way.

Cheers,

Stu

[themos]

Nice weather for the binoculars tonight. Spotted Theta Serpentis in the 15x70 mirror-mounted Revelation. I would say it was an obvious split with the two components pretty matched in brightness. The pair of stars themselves looked a lot smaller than this image suggests.

Also managed to discern the Dumbbell nebula, M27 and an open cluster NGC 6633. It sure helps having a steady view and a comfortable angle.