Anartes

[alan potts]

I have been trying Antares for the double split on and off all Summer, it is never easy, the very hot days do not help either. The star is past it's best in my skies now and I only have a view for about two hours before one of my walnut trees gets in the way and it is setting at a very accute angle. This is an early morning double split and I really must leave the bed anchor off my foot one day and try it, I keep saying this but like so many things it is the doing that becomes hard

Last night was by no means excellent at first and I was on to Antares long before it was anywhere near dark wondering if I could catch the double in the twilght,  this helps the contrast difference between the main star and the fainter one and I found with Sirius is was always easier, if that could be possible. Antares was going from rolling boil to gentle simmer and back again in the time it took me to type it, but as the ground cooled things got better. It is hot during the day here still with temperatures up to 31 degrees being normal, but this drops away fairly quickly at night and it was a getting better night for sure as the rolling boils got less frequent.

Sirius has a double knowm as the Pup as many of you know. Well Antares means rival of Mars or something very close, so for me instaed of the Dog Star and Pup, this can be the Mars bar and the Bounty.

I was using my 180mm Mak which by all account is a bit of a specialist in double splitting circles, as much as do not like some parts of this scope the optics is not one of them. After about an hour of looking using 20mm Nagler at X135 and 14mm Delos at X192, there I thought I saw a sign of the difficult double, and then again, conditions had settled a good deal and by now the Milky Way was showing almost down to the mountain tops in the far distance. The longest I got a sure sighting of the Bounty was about 3 seconds but it was there for sure and suddenly all those hours of dispair were worth it just for those 3 seconds. There was me thinking that our hobby had something in common with fishing, you can sit there all day and never get a bite, well Antares is a bit like that except you don't get wet and the gear can cost as much as well.

I continued to observe until Antares had reached the outer leaves at which point I started Glob spotting, this scope is remarkably good at that as well giving a beautiful rendition of M92, a globular that I always thought was very tight and needed a great deal of apperture to open, sort of dust-bin lid size, not the case, with only X90 or so with the 35mm Panoptic this was open and clear as a bell, I must have this mixed up with another. There is a lot to be said for this scopes optics very sharp indeed and well worth the outlay, the only real downside is you can never really get a wide angle view, but then it was never designed to give that but this doesn't stop one wanting. If mid to high power is your game you could do a great deal worse than buy one of these, almost refractor like views and very kind to anything less than costly eyepieces. More to the point if splitting doubles is what you like I feel the cost of the scope was worth seeing the double of Antares, even if it was only for 3 seconds.

All in all a good night, but even if I had not split Antatre it would have still been a good night.

Alan

[Fozzie]

Glad you got your patience rewarded with a good bounty!

[southernman]

Antares is a difficult split. From my location it is well placed for viewing , but , as yet , I have not seen its companion after numerous attempts. Well done !

Peter

[John]

Alan the Bounty Hunter !

Very nice report Alan

Might be worth trying an ortho on Antares if you have one thats suitable. I found the ortho gave me the most consistent views of The Pup star. The more complex designs would show it intemittently but it was slightly more readily seen with the ortho.

[alan potts]

John,

An orthoscopic would be a very good call and I do have the 12.5mm Hutech that I got from FLO last year but I have loaned it to Dani in Sofia while I test some of his eyepieces that I have been writing about of late. I have the 9mm BGO which would give me a power of X300 on this scope which I thought was a bit overkill. It is one of those doubles that ( look at him splits it twice and thinks his an expert) that hides a bit in the diffraction rings like Sirius. I checked the net on this and they reckon a 6 inch is required, that is as maybe but I believe it is again conditions need to be right for this. This star is low (21 degrees) even for me and heat is a problem, I have tried this split maybe a hundred times and done it twice, I also feel very good contrast optics would help the situation like a big refractor or like the scope I used.

Alan.

[Qualia]

Great work, Alan. That's a tricky double to split and I've never been successful. I guess 6"+ aperture is a must but as you say, conditions are probably just as important if not more so. Great work my friend and lovely write up. Thank you