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Centenary of the discovery of Barnard's Star


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This week is the centenary of the discovery of the star with the highest proper motion — Barnard’s Star. The star’s motion was discovered by comparing plates taken on Aug 24th, 1894 and May 30th, 1916. This is the 1916 article describing the star. I believe the actual discovery was made on June 3rd but can't lay my hands on the source at the moment -- any info appreciated.

I took a 15s image of the star with my Lodestar X2 mono camera last June and was lucky to catch it again tonight in a brief interval between clouds. The north-westerly movement of around 10" over the course of the year is very obvious. 

2015:

Barnards2015.png

2016:

Barnards2016.png

 

Its interesting to compare to the original image to see the movement over the course of a century. The convenient arrow-shaped asterism is still in shot but Barnard's Star is well to the north of it now.

Barnard1916.png

You can find Barnard's Star at or around 17h 58 36, 4deg 44’ 32.8 in the north of Ophiuchus.

Martin

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