Epsilon Lyrae - Field stars

[chiltonstar]

Anyone know the magnitudes of the field stars between the two pairs of Epsilon Lyr? Last night was so clear, and with such good seeing (4/5), that field stars appeared around doubles that I'd never seen before. Even Pi Aquilae appeared to have a few.

Chris

[Stu]

9 minutes ago, chiltonstar said:

Anyone know the magnitudes of the field stars between the two pairs of Epsilon Lyr? Last night was so clear, and with such good seeing (4/5), that field stars appeared around doubles that I'd never seen before. Even Pi Aquilae appeared to have a few.

Chris

Any of these Chris? These are down to mag 15.4

[chiltonstar]

No, the ones I can see are not in the Skysafari list.

The one which forms a triangle with the pair is always obvious, even in a small scope, but between the two pairs there were a couple of fainter stars visible with direct vision, and with two more visible with averted vision. They can be seen in this image from the web:- (second image)

http://earthsky.org/brightest-stars/epsilon-lyrae-the-famous-double-double-star

Chris

[chiltonstar]

I've taken the image (from EarthSky I believe) inverted it and added some text showing the stars I refer to:-

Chris

 

 

[Stu]

Impressive stuff Chris, which scope was that with?

I wonder if any of Martin Meridith's maps cover these?

[Mr Spock]

Chart taken from CdC. Should give you all you need

[chiltonstar]

Many thanks Michael - I never thought to look in CdC. The pair I can see dv seem to be the 12.7 and 11.9, and the av pair 13.5 and 13.9.

Stu:- The scope was my 180 Mak, using a 10mm ortho - giving x270.

Chris

[Stu]

Nice one Michael  

[lukebl]

Michael, you beat me to it with the CdC map! One thing I noticed was that your map shows more stars than mine. Which catalog are you using?

I think I might have a go at Chris's two fainter ones myself. I've never knowlingly visually observed stars as faint as 14th mag, but have recently moved to darker skies and my 10" Newt ought to manage it..

[Mr Spock]

Which catalog are you using? 

I'm using UCAC4. The faintest star in this region (not labelled here - it's the one between Eps2 and the 11.94 above it) is 16.58. That's about as far as the catalogue goes.

[Stu]

Chris, as mentioned in another post, I managed the two brighter ones last night with the C925, but could not see the two mag 13+ stars even with AV. Will try again!

[chiltonstar]

16 hours ago, Stu said:

Chris, as mentioned in another post, I managed the two brighter ones last night with the C925, but could see the two mag 13+ stars even with AV. Will try again!

Probably a conditions issue: I noted them when it was a very clear night indeed with the added bonus of good seeing. At the moment, Epsilon Lyr is also in my least light-polluted part of the sky. Good luck next time, the two more inches or so with the 9.25 should help.

I've tried a few images of the D-D recently and have not managed to show any of the field stars at all (apart from the brightish one shown above in SSPro). But then again, I am no imager..

Chris

[chiltonstar]

With a single frame with the gain at max, the two dv stars are fairly clear and the two av ones just about visible. A more normal view of the D-D taken at the same time!

Chris

 

[Stu]

Just linked to this thread from the current DD thread, and noted that the SkySafari 6 Pro additional database does show stars down to mag 17.5 in this area. Not that I can get anywhere near that!

[chiltonstar]

This is a useful update, even if we can't see some of the fainter stars; there seem to be a few less stars showing than the CdC chart above aren't there, despite being brighter than mag 17.5?

Chris

[Stu]

Yes, as you say it is an improvement over before but still not quite up to CDC

[chiltonstar]

...but I clearly need to upgrade my SkySafari to a later and better version (although I do find paper charts more convenient in general than a tablet with SS).

Chris

[Mark at Beaufort]

Chris even though this initial thread is 2 years old I never appreciated looking for fainter stars between Epsilon Lyrae. I must have looked at this setup hundreds of times so the next time I am out observing with the 12" I will check it out.