Italy - night two

[Piero]

I had another nice session the other day.

Saturn was revisited. There are three colours on the planet: pale yellow, grey and `denser` yellow. The border between these belts is distinct and appears like a line. The rings also have colours but the separation between these is a bit fuzzier.  

The Double Cluster was gorgeous at 36x, 60x, and 96x, with little faint or coloured stars here and there.  

I then visited Aquila Pi. A black line between the two stars was visible at 192x. Looking forward to seeing this with the Tak! 

While looking for other double stars in the area using Stellarium on my tablet, Aql Chi came up in the neighbourhood.. Without information about the separation for this pair, I naively started zooming in, zooming in, zooming in... and nothing! At 500x using the Vixen HR 2.4mm, I could see that there was some irregularity on the first diffraction ring, but nothing more than that! Once back inside, I checked out this double on the Internet and found out that the separation was 0.394" !! Not a surprise I could not split it! Still an entertaining test!  What's your experience with this double? 

[Stu]

Somehow I missed part one Piero , will go and look.

I suspect Aql Chi may be one for Alan and his 18" Nichol mirror and steady skies!

[Chris]

I missed part one also, sounds like lots of fun though, and that last double more than a little challenging lol, I think 0.4" might need a mountain top 

[Piero]

1 minute ago, Lockie said:

I missed part one also, sounds like lots of fun though, and that last double more than a little challenging lol, I think 0.4" might need a mountain top 

Exactly! At a certain point I was even doubting whether I was pointing to another star! 

[John]

Nice part 2 Piero !

Thats one issue that I have with the Cambridge Double Star Atlas - you need to cross reference with the back sections to see how easy or difficult a pair might be. Intersellarium gives you a clue on the sky chart itself, which is helpfull and avoids trying to "split the unsplittable" too much

 

[Pondus]

Nice part two indeed .

Apart from the most famous ones I`ve never really gotten into splitting doubles With my 8" dob.

I really should, like John said in a previous post; - when little else visible you always got binaries.

 

Rune

[Special K]

On 28/08/2017 at 17:14, John said:

Nice part 2 Piero !

Thats one issue that I have with the Cambridge Double Star Atlas - you need to cross reference with the back sections to see how easy or difficult a pair might be. Intersellarium gives you a clue on the sky chart itself, which is helpfull and avoids trying to "split the unsplittable" too much

 

I agree the length and thickness of the companion line in Interstellarum and indeed the direction of the line is invaluable in observing doubles and triples. At least you can brace yourself for a challenge if it's the <2" short line!

@Pieroahhh you have a Tak now?!  I have been away from this board too long  Nice report and Saturn's colors sound great. 

Clear skies

[Piero]

2 hours ago, Special K said:

@Pieroahhh you have a Tak now?!  I have been away from this board too long  Nice report and Saturn's colors sound great. 

Yes Sir!