Double Double splitting

[Theninjagecko]

Hello,

Took the evo 9.25 out tonight "still only have the terrible 40mm celestron plossl" 

I'm wondering what you guys use to split the double double? Doubles are probably my favorite object at the moment. I used to split the 4 stars easily with my old 5 inch mak at high mag but cant remember the actual mag I used.

 

Tonight I used my 40mm plossl with my 2x barlow to give 117x and it just about split it.

 

Whats the lowest magnitude you clearly split with black space between in the double double ?

 

 

[Stu]

I always prefer the view in a refractor to be honest, I find the star images tighter and the split cleaner. I think I've split it down at x60 or a little lower. The seeing needs to be excellent to achieve this clearly.

I actually prefer the view at higher powers, around x100 and above perhaps so the splits are nice and clean, with a nice clear black line between the two, but still tight.

In an SCT it will be all about getting the scope cooled and ensuring it is collimated very well, plus getting the best seeing conditions as the aperture will work against you if the seeing is poor.

It's a lovely object which I never tire of looking at.

[FenlandPaul]

We were achieving a split at around x65 on Friday evening.  One was easier than the other, which appeared elongated rather than definitely split.  I had a stream of newbies looking at a public event and most seemed to manage one split, but none managed the second.  At x109 it was easier.  That's in a 5" frac.

[Stu]

I was trying this last night with a 925 side by side with the Tak. The view in the Tak is so much sharper and at lower mags the split is lovely. Perfect airy disks vs the kind of fuzziness you get with an SCT. The SCT is about 95% in terms of collimation, needs a bit of fine tuning but is pretty good, and was cooled nicely.

[Peter Drew]

The easiest way to split the Double-Double is at about 100x on a small good refractor, any other type of telescope or much larger aperture just makes it harder!  

[John]

My Vixen and Tak 4" refractors will split this one at around 70x-80x. The view at 150x becomes equisite with these scopes