59 Andromedae... or not?

[Size9Hex]

I had a short and enjoyable session last night under the near full moon viewing a few from the AL bino doubles list with mounted 10x50s. Wanted to get a few opinions on one target in particular though please.

When I panned to 59 Andromedae (mag 6.1/6.7 at 17", although I didn't know at the time), I was pretty sure I detected a very tight double star of even brightness with the two stars being oriented almost exactly parallel to the horizon at the time. When I compared against my notes it matched very well except that I wouldn't have expected to manage a 17" double at just 10x.

I've managed a few inside the mag=300/separation rule previously but this one is so far off I've got to question what I saw. Is the data wrong? Was I just mistaken? Or is it this one feasible (and I suppose it's on the bino list for a reason), with the 300/separation rule having a fair bit of wriggle room for ideal/even doubles like 59 Andromedae?

[chiltonstar]

I think the 300/separation rule is probably for one eye, not bins, and anyway it's "empirical" with as you say wriggle room. Certainly 59 And would have been parallel to the horizon at 23:00 last night. Were you able to see the colour difference as one of the pair is slightly yellow?

Chris

[goodricke1]

HIP 9001 and 56 And might be in the same fov, mags 5.8 and 5.6 although they are separated by 3 arc-minutes.

[Size9Hex]

Thanks for the replies. I've just had a look at HIP 9001 / 56 And on the star atlas, and I'm sure it wasn't those. Sounds like maybe it's not out of the realms of possibility that I saw it. No colour difference detected in the binos unfortunately. I'm never convinced I'm very good at seeing colours in the night sky. The oft quoted rubies and topazes and sapphires often look quite subtle to me!