Epsilon Lyrae - what will I need to see it?

[John]

I've got the "Double Double" with my 70mm TV Ranger. Can't recall the lowest magnification the split was clear - around 80-100x probably ?

[Ouroboros]

With this thread in mind I took a careful look at the double-double with my ED80.

Using a 7mm (x86) eyepiece I could just about convince myself that I could split both close doubles. Using an 18mm eyepiece plus a x5 Barlow - hence giving a mag of x167 - I could definitely split both the close doubles. 

[Ibbo!]

Did it with the baby 60 mm Tak some years ago.

You could not drive a bus trhough the gap but it was deff o split.

Start with higher mag and work our way down it surprising how low you can go once you have yor eye in.

[Moonshane]

It's all about the seeing. I find that fracs are generally a bit better with doubles unless the companion is particularly faint/small in comparison with the primary. Sometimes a big newt can then make all the difference. I love both my 120 ED and my 150mm f11 newt for this purpose. Epsilon Lyrae is a lovely system and one I never tire of seeing.

[Captain Scarlet]

I love the "double double". It's a beautiful sight when it's all sharp. In fact I've named the double-scull I half-own "Epsilon Lyrae": in our day the other owner and I were national champions in double sculls and we've struggled to name this boat for many many years. When I suggested this name to him, he said (finally) "that's good enough for me". Makes for a much more romantic name than "MBC290".

Magnus

[JOC]

Yay, I did it.  I finally after many months of not finding the time went out last night.  Amongst other things I found myself with Epsilon Lyr (according to the goto) in the view finder - took a good look and then I remembered that this was my double double that had caused previous problems.  It was looking clear at 12mm, so I dumped in that fancy, but so far little used successfully Pentax XW 5mm,  So in my scope I was up to x240.  Both stars immediately and completely clearly split and were really pretty.  I begin to wonder if my failure to split them previously was because of a lack of good collimation.  About 4 weeks ago I brought the telescope inside on a rainy afternoon and did the AstroBaby thing on it - I am still not 100% certain that I know when it's exactly OK, but I thought it was pretty OK when I decided that I couldn't do any more.  So last night was probably the first time I'd used it in anger since doing it.  Any how, I didn't have many successes last night that I'll write about in another thread in a bit, but I was rather chuffed to finally crack the double double open.

[Ouroboros]

@JOCWell done. It's always nice when you finally see something that has eluded you.  

The double double is beautiful in two ways - both to look at and in concept.  It's intriguing to actually see such a system in reality.  One can imagine how interesting it might be to live on a planet orbiting one of the four stars.

[Stu]

Well done @JOC. It’s a lovely sight, and one I always have a look at if it is well placed. Collimating and cooling are key to this, aswell as the seeing. I think fracs have a much easier time of it on this target due to their naturally tighter star shapes. I can’t recall ever failing to split it even down at 60mm, it can be tough but always doable.

Last night I tried it in my 5.5” Mak. It wasn’t great to start with, nor was Jupiter. The cooling was fine as I had used my home made ‘Catcooler’ to draw the hot air out from the tube; views were stable but just not sharp. I checked the collimation and it was way out! Vega was about the only star visible to me easily at that point so I collimated on that and afterwards the stars looked better and the split was possible with a 24mm Panoptic which is x83. Jupiter also looked significantly sharper although still not as good as the other night.

[chiltonstar]

Well done @JOC - it is a splendid sight isn't it?

I had my grab 'n go Mak on it last night (127 Mak with 8-24mm zoom EP). Beautifully split above x80, best at x190. Always a delight.

Stu - which Mak is it? A Mak that requires collimation, surely not!

Chris

[Stu]

2 hours ago, chiltonstar said:

Well done @JOC - it is a splendid sight isn't it?

I had my grab 'n go Mak on it last night (127 Mak with 8-24mm zoom EP). Beautifully split above x80, best at x190. Always a delight.

Stu - which Mak is it? A Mak that requires collimation, surely not!

Chris

OMC140 Chris.

The primary can be collimated, fairly simple process. It’s strange because the OMC200 is the opposite in that the primary is fixed and the secondary can be collimated.