A Good Run On Doubles (+ Red Giant & Two Galaxies)

[cloudsweeper]

9.00pm – mild evening after a lovely afternoon – clear sky, good transparency – slender crescent Moon going down in the west, Arcturus on show in the east, Procyon SW. 10 minutes later and lots more stars had appeared. Aligned 8SE on Arcturus and Alkaid. Targets – mainly doubles.

 

FS Com – red giant, pulsating type of variable, radius about 30x that of the Sun – noticeably orange in the EP.

Sigma 1633 Com – matched double, 9” - stood out strikingly, with little else nearby – close, matched pair at x56.

2 Com – double, 3.7” - not split at x56 – just, at x113 – less clear at x145 as seeing effects became apparent. (No Y/B colours noticed.)

SAO 063396 CVn - matched binary, 2.6”, closer than the above, needed x145 to spot a definite split.

SAO 063362 CVn – mismatched binary, 6.4” - harder because of the mismatch, clear split at x113, with some AV.

SAO 062953 CVn – triple, but visual double ((2) + 1), 11”, mismatched, managed this one at x56, but companion was again very faint.

SAO 062930 CVn – mismatched binary, 5.9” - this proved more elusive! - range of mags, also AV – nothing – one final attempt, down to x56 again (which should have done it!), and patience paid off as the faint companion popped in and out of view with AV.

(SAO 028290 CVn) – after a good run, this one turned out to be absent from the handset!

 

GoTo was not as good as usual, but in any event, I always check targets against surrounding stars as shown on Stellarium. Much darker now, so I tried for some galaxies.

 

M106 CVn – spiral, face-on – a fuzzy patch at x56, brighter core, similar at x85.

M63 CVn Sunflower Galaxy – spiral, face-on, the brightest one in the region – again a fuzzy patch, a bit clearer at x113, with a close star aiding focus.

 

After 2hrs 10mins, the power pack failed, so session over, but the variety and enjoyment of those doubles left me very satisfied indeed!

 

Doug.

[Knighty2112]

Nice going Doug. Some nice targets. Well done! Apart from viewing Venus and the crescent moon in the twilight with binoculars in the early evening, I never got my scope out. However, I did wake up early at 3:30am and decided after not been able to go straight back to sleep to get the C8 out on the goto mount. Primarily was aiming to look at Jupiter, Saturn and Mars, which I nabbed, but I also looked at some globular, planetaries and a few galaxies too, two of which you listed (M106 & M63). I also saw M94 and Bodes too. Was nice too see Saturn again, and Mars is definitely getting bigger, although I couldn’t decern any detail as it was boiling away in the lower murk. Managed a quick peek to at Xi Bootis will split nicely, and the double double too. 

[cloudsweeper]

@Knighty2112 - thanks Gus.  Glad you got a decent session in too!  Must say, I really like examining doubles, and Sigma 1633 Com was especially pleasing - who'd have thought a pair of close, matched, and lonely stars could look so good!

Further to my post above, it now turns out that the GPS unit has packed up (which is why I was having trouble getting right on the targets), so back to manual data entry.  No problem!

Doug.

[Demonperformer]

Great, concise write-up, Doug, of what seems to have been a pleasant, productive couple of hours.

1 hour ago, cloudsweeper said:

this one turned out to be absent from the handset

I'm sure you are aware of this, but you can enter coordinates directly into 8SE handset .

Hope powerpack failure is just "discharged" not something more problematical.

[cloudsweeper]

7 hours ago, Demonperformer said:

Great, concise write-up, Doug, of what seems to have been a pleasant, productive couple of hours.

I'm sure you are aware of this, but you can enter coordinates directly into 8SE handset .

Hope powerpack failure is just "discharged" not something more problematical.

Thanks DP - Yes, I knew about coord entry, but was just a bit lazy!

Re the "problem" - the GPS module failure had apparently interfered with the 'scope so it seemed  like a power failure.  The module has been sent back for (hopefully) a replacement.

Meanwhile, I shall use the frac.  I'm looking forward to a low-tech approach, swinging it round the sky with ease and widefield views.

Doug.

 

[alan potts]

I always enjoy doubles and of course the moon has little effect on them, jusst makes the stars harder to find with the Dob.

[chiltonstar]

A good night's viewing Doug by the sound of it! Conditions here were hazy, (DSOs pointless), with excellent seeing at 45 degrees above the horizon, and pretty dreadful seeing at lower levels eg Jupiter. The view I had of some difficult high-up doubles was good though, with probably my best view ever (180 Mak, 10mm Baader Ortho) of that tricky little devil, Zeta Herculis.

Chris

[Eastman]

Nice report Doug.

Great write up on the doubles.