15 Monocerotis - AN's double star of the month for January.

[chiltonstar]

Two nights ago in a rare moment of clear sky (first since I received January's AN), I had a look at this beauty. It is buried within the Christmas Tree Cluster - it is a bit late for Christmas though because of the permacloud!

It is listed on SkySafari as- mags 4.67 and 7.79, sep 2.9 arcsec and PA 214 degrees. I've done a rough sketch (180 Mak at x190) which shows the primary and secondary and some of the nearby stars which are part of this system. At lower magnification (x48), many more stars are visible and there is a very pretty little asterism just south of the primary and secondary. To my eye, the primary is neutral white and the secondary a pale cyan colour - a lovely pair, well worth the look and not too difficult.

Chris

[oldannie]

I'm an imager not an observer but found your post interesting as you'd illustrated it with a sketch.

 

Annie

 

[chiltonstar]

1 hour ago, oldannie said:

I'm an imager not an observer but found your post interesting as you'd illustrated it with a sketch.

 

Annie

 

....but unfortunately not as good as an image!

Chris

[Littleguy80]

Thanks for sharing this, Chris. Picked up 15 mon this evening and it was one of the highlights. I love the Christmas tree cluster and really enjoyed seeing new within it  

[David Levi]

I had a look at this double star, 15 Mon, last night and what a lovely sight it was. As you say, the 3 pairs of stars below it made a very pleasing view.