Andromeda Doubles - kind of.

[MattJenko]

Been a while since I simply went out with my Dob without all the paraphernalia of an imaging session and electronics. A text from some society members about a quick trip to the observatory on Saturday night was enough to get me in the car with the Dob, leaving the rest behind.

On the way, I drove through a rather scary amount of fog, and on arrival, there were low wisps in the fields and a serious amount of moisture everywhere. I carted my 10'' and eyepieces to the patio area and set up and popped the kettle on.

I had such a nice evening doing the Cassiopeia doubles from the 'Turn Left at Orion' book on a previous viewing night, that I was planning on doing the Andromeda double list, and take my time doing so, not just blasting through using Telrad and ticking them off as fast as possible. The Telrad is possibly the most dew attracting piece of equipment ever made by man anyway, so I only used it the first time to line up Almach and then went star hopping.

The list for those without the book is : Almach, 59 And, 56 And, 6 Trianguli, Lambda Arietis, Mesarthim (Gamma Arietis) and it takes you from Almach down into Triangulum and into Aries.

Despite the low fog, the skies were clear, so although there were dewing problems and moisture on the tube straight away, viewing was quite pleasant. I grabbed a seat and gazed at Almach, not having observed it before. It is a very bright and clear double, with a much smaller partner and a very nice way to start a double night. Now, a short tangent about eyepiece selection for the session:

I started with my trusty MaxVision 28 and also tried out the Hyperion Zoom, but once again found it a bit dark. I also used my TeleVue Radian 10mm, but I am sure there is something amiss, as it seems very milky and cloudy at present. As I was at the society observatory, I took the opportunity to try out the Altair Lightwave hyperwide 100 degree 20mm eyepiece. Now this is a great eyepiece, but I hit a snag. With the eyeguard up, it pushed my bespectacled eye far enough away from the eyepiece that the field of view was drastically reduced, and with the eyepiece down, I could feel my glasses lens touch the eyepiece lens, and while the views were great, I could see that there were distortions caused by this contact tilting my specs as well as the slight awkwardness of this. The curse of the glasses wearer. Most of the evening was spent with the MV 28 and close ups with the Radian.

From Almach, I headed south, looking for 59 Andromedae, and after a little while, found it. It is a very cute little matched blue double, very easy to glance past, but stood out like a pair of tiny cartoon eyes once found. I rather like it. I used this hop as a basis to gauge how many MV distances matched the finderscope to help my later star hoppings.

Moving on, was the attempt on 56 And, which is where I got led astray. Firstly, I stumbled across a tiny double, which I have yet to identify, which was so tiny, I couldn't believe I had even seen it. I soon realised this was not the double I was looking for and then I hit NGC 752 and the evening changed. This is only mentioned in passing in the book, but seeing this open cluster fill the eyepiece was unexpected and wonderful. 56 And is actually a wide visual double only (although one of the stars is a real double, but I could not split that pair) and are both a lovely gold colour. However, NGC 752 steals the show. I spent a long time marveling at this cluster and tried out all the EPs on it, and the MV came out the winner, with the Lightwave close behind. Beautifully framed and clear enough skies to really highlight some of the gems of stars in this cluster. I am a fan.

After that, I tried to find 6 Triangli, but I had been well and truly sidetracked. My other society friends arrived, with new filters to try out, and the evening moved on to nebula attempts using the society C11, so the rest of the 'Andromeda Doubles' will have to wait for another evening.

I have to say, it was very nice to not be messing around with cables, laptops and alignments...

[cotterless45]

Neat report, there's nothing like the simplicity of a Dob star hopping,

Nick.

[Astro Imp]

Great report Matt, really enjoyed the read.

Like you I wear glasses and although I have very slight astigmatism prefer to observe with the glasses off. I know this is a pain when looking at the star chart but what I tend to do is use the glasses at the finder scope and the chart then take them off for viewing at the EP.

I see you got side tracked before reaching Gamma Arietis, you'll love it, looks just like two distant headlights shining at you.

Good luck and clear skies.

[AndyWB]

I went after 6 Trianguli the other night, and got distracted by Struve 239, which was just visible as a double at lot power. It had a cute orange colour to me.

And yes, I did get Gamma Arietis too - it had a weirdly green looking primary to me! (I'm starting to doubt my colour perception!)

[MattJenko]

Will add Struve 239 to the list when I revisit that little lot again, if the cloud ever disappears before Christmas that is.

[Qualia]

Great report, Matt and thank you for sharing. Nothing like the simplicity and ease of the dob and great to hear you had some decent skies