Doubles, carbons and a lucky escape for Major Tim

[Size9Hex]

Binocular doubles:

Monday night, clear sky, but a little short on time, and my telescope basking in a warm room. Time for the binoculars :-)

A great list of targets on https://www.astroleague.org/files/obsclubs/BinoDS/2016List.pdf for anyone who hasn't seen it yet.

Pick 'em off fast with binos which feel so natural to use and flow so nicely. I had about a 90% success rate splitting the dozen or so doubles on the list I tried in 10x50s. Found some of the closer pairs with a large brightness difference to be too much. A scope would smash them apart, but doesn't seem sporting. Really stoked to get a 21" split (Struve 1694, labelled as 32 Camelopardalis on the list). Tripod essential. Moving my eyes a few inches back from the lenses sometimes helped bring out a split, though I don't know why.

ISS, Rocket Debris and Lunar:

Fast forward to Tuesday evening, and a quick look at the ISS with the kids as Major Tim hurtled overhead at dusk. My daughter was thrilled to see that it nearly hit another satellite as it crossed through Auriga! Did anyone else spot it? Sky Guide points to an old Soviet Okean 2 Rocket body matching what we saw.

The Alpine Valley on the moon was well lit, but not great seeing. The lunar X just starting to appear into the lunar dawn too.

Telescope doubles:

I'm struggling to put my finger on why double stars are as compelling as they are. There're striking and addictive in a way that a set of "two stars next to each other" has no reason to be. After Monday's bino session, I was still keen for more. Astro League again for another good list in case it's new to anyone: https://www.astroleague.org/files/obsclubs/DblStar/dblstar2.pdf

Picked off a dozen in a 10 inch scope at 80 to 180x, with some splits being a bit tricky, but not ridiculous. I make a slightly better job of collimating the scope each time I try, and it's definitely splitting stars now that it wouldn't have done a couple of months ago. Happy to get (among others) Theta Aurigae and 38 Lyncis which were at the more challenging end. Only two out of three on Tegmine though. The 1.1" split was too much.

Carbon stars:

I only learned of these recently and had a great time looking at a few. Like doubles, another nice type of target on a moonlit evening. From Wikipedia: "A carbon star is a late-type star similar to a red giant (or occasionally to a red dwarf) whose atmosphere contains more carbon than oxygen... giving the star a "sooty" atmosphere and a strikingly ruby red appearance."

Bagged WZ Cas, UU Aur, X Cnc, T Cnc, VY UMa, Y CVn (La Superba), RY Dra, UX Dra, S Cep with the scope. Full list here: https://www.astroleague.org/files/obsclubs/CarbonStar/CarbonStarList3.pdf

Check out La Superba if nothing else. None of the targets on the list seem tricky, with many also in reach of binos. For the most, the colour was evident in the 9x50 finder, and in the eyepiece there was never any doubt over which star was the target! Nice to contemplate that these stars are often thousands of light years away and hundreds of times more luminous than the sun. After these, the colours throughout the sky seemed so much more vivid than they ever have previously. The Beehive became a riot of colour.

[Special K]

Excellent Paul!  Carbons are great and thanks for that list. Reading up on La Superba sounds like it is nearing time to eject its outer layers to form a planetary nebula.........but I wouldn't hold your breath!  Wouldn't that be a thrill to have a fresh nebula in our lifetime?

[Size9Hex]

That really would be fantastic to see! I'm rooting for Betelgeuse to go pop in the next few decades too :-)

[laudropb]

Very nice report and a joy to read. Carbon stars are truly amazing objects to view and think about.

[MAN or ASTROMAN]

Great report Paul.

Co-incidentally,I'd printed off both of those Astro. league double Star lists on monday,whilst I'm waiting for my copy of Sissy Haas ' book to arrive.

Double Stars are a growing interest for me,as they aren't affected by the suburban light pollution that I'm forced to endure.

I also second the 'Carbon Stars' as worth a look.Some of the most dramatic,gigantically swollen Stars out there!

[Size9Hex]

9 minutes ago, MAN or ASTROMAN said:

Great report Paul.

Co-incidentally,I'd printed off both of those Astro. league double Star lists on monday,whilst I'm waiting for my copy of Sissy Haas ' book to arrive.

Double Stars are a growing interest for me,as they aren't affected by the suburban light pollution that I'm forced to endure.

I also second the 'Carbon Stars' as worth a look.Some of the most dramatic,gigantically swollen Stars out there!

Definitely agree with you on the light pollution. I'm on the northern edge of a town and the doubles are a nice target in that situation, and even more so when the moon is out!

I'd be interested in your thoughts on the Sissy Haas book. I've been mulling over whether to get a copy and/or the Cambridge double atlas. Neither are cheap! 2,000 targets seems like a list to last a lifetime though!

[MAN or ASTROMAN]

Will do Paul.

I bought the 'Cambridge' last month,and I've been deliberating about the Sissy Haas book for a while,as the two books would seem to complement each other.

Views on the Haas book  vary widely-it only has four 'charts' to speak of,and is really just a list (ungenerously described as a 'spreadsheet' by at least one Amazon reviewer!),and a quite expensive list at that.

Nevertheless,in a moment of madness,I pressed the 'buy' button the other day,as I'd like to read the descriptive text by Haas and historical observers such as Webb that I understand  the book contains.

 

 

[mapstar]

Hinds crimson star in lepus is a lovely carbon star. 

With the constellation slipping away west it's one to catch as soon as possible 

[cotterless45]

Yep, Hinds is very colourful was looking at it last night along with some of Herschel's discoveries including the "winter Albireo"

https://bestdoubles.wordpress.com/2013/02/24/a-john-herschel-odyssey-in-canis-major-h-3934-h3938-and-h-3945/

Nick.

[Size9Hex]

Thanks Damien and Nick. I'll need to drag my scope out to the New Forest or a look at Hinds Crimson Star (or find a decent south facing site a bit nearer home!). My house is blocking everything below Orion's Belt right now - and to even see that, I have to climb halfway into the hedge!