Nice Variety Of Doubles (Plus Globs To Finish)

[cloudsweeper]

9.50pm Sunday, clear, Arcturus and Vega on show, aligned the 8SE on them.

 

Xi Boo, SAO 101250, binary, 5.7” - very close fainter companion x56, better x113, less sharp x145. (Yellow/orange colours not really apparent – perhaps not dark enough!)

 

Sigma 1825 Boo, SAO 083259, binary, 4.3” - again a close, fainter companion x85.

 

Sigma 1835 Boo, SAO 120426, 1+(2) visual double, 6.1” - another with a close fainter companion x56, clearer x85.

 

29 Boo, SAO 101138, (2)+(2) visual double, 5.5” - companion not as faint as previous, just split x56, again clearer x85.

 

Sigma 1884 Boo, SAO 083535, binary, 2”, a closer match (magnitude-wise) and at 2", more of a challenge than previous targets – x169 with AV did it!

 

(Izar {Pulcherrima, the most beautiful} - a popular close visual double, evaded me probably on account of the brightness of the primary.)

 

Moving on to a different constellation:

 

49 Her, SAO 102018, (2)+1 visual double, 4.1” - a close match, and because of this, needing a little more mag (x113) to be split.

 

Sigma 2052 Her, SAO 102200, binary, 2.3” - another close match, requiring x145 and AV.

 

After this good run, I finished with some popular globular clusters:

 

M13, the Hercules Cluster – good x56 with separate stars clear in the fuzz, better x45.

 

M92 Her – smaller, tighter than M13 – many peripheral stars resolved x113.

 

M53 Com – easily seen, but remained a fuzzy patch even with increased mag.

 

M3 CVn – seemed smaller than M13, perhaps because it is tighter/fainter at the periphery, where some detail was discernible.

 

Almost midnight. time to retire after a very successful session enjoying yet more challenges and variety with doubles, with speedy movement between targets facilitated by GoTo.

 

Doug.

[iPeace]

Very nice one. It seems Izar makes its own mind up each night, no matter what I'm using. So I keep returning, and it's worth it.

[cloudsweeper]

1 hour ago, iPeace said:

Very nice one. It seems Izar makes its own mind up each night, no matter what I'm using. So I keep returning, and it's worth it.

Thanks, Mike.  That's what's great about doubles - easy/tricky, exciting/ordinary, but always plenty to go for or return to!

Doug.

[wookie1965]

Great haul of objects there think I will look at Hercules and Vega as they are so well placed next time.

[cloudsweeper]

11 minutes ago, wookie1965 said:

Great haul of objects there think I will look at Hercules and Vega as they are so well placed next time.

Thanks Paul - Yes, that's why I went for Hercules and Bootes - well above the houses, but not uncomfortably high!

Doug.

[John]

Great report Doug

Very nice night, last night. I observed some of what you saw then moved over to Draco galaxies and then back to Jupiter. About 100,000,000 light years covered there in the dob "spaceship"

Making up for the rotten Winter months at last !

 

[chiltonstar]

Some lovely targets there....for sheer colourful beauty at the EP, I think Izar takes some beating, although some of the others have a subtle beauty of their own.

Chris

[Mark at Beaufort]

Really enjoyable read Doug. I used the Heritage 130P last night starting early with Venus. My only double was Castor which was nicely split in the small Newt. Whenever I view M13 I try to pick up NGC 6207 in the same FOV - worth a go next time you are on this lovely Glob.