E star success, finally. Beta Mons triple.

[markclaire50]

Tonight, my mission was to assess the difference between looking at the trapezium and nebulosity in the surrounding area, with and without diagonal, in 127mak.

Initially with 10cm BCO I assessed the trap. I looked at where I expected E star, not expecting anything, again. But this time, I definitely thought there was something there just for an instant, then gone. ?

I looked straight through without diagonal. Again I suspected something. I thought the nebulosity looked brighter. 

However, on switching back, being objective I think nebulosity was similar with what looked like two black holes (not the collapsed star type?) inside the mistiness. 

Again, I suspected the E star. I switched to my ES24mm  68°. Nice sharp image. Again, I suspected it was there. I added a 1.5X barlow to give about 90x. Again nice sharp stars. This time, just for a few seconds, I was certain I locked on to the E target. A very faint and tiny point of light, in exactly the right place,for a few seconds, then it seemed to disappear again. 

On previous attempts since new year, I had no success. I'm now confident that a 180mak would have no trouble picking it out. Certainly this time, my 5" did it tonight, I'm sure. I'd predict 6" scopes and above would have no problems in the right seeing, as they would gather more light and see the E star more easily. 

I also looked at an interesting double, beta mons. It's actually part of a triple system. At x 68, you may think it's a double, but when you look carefully you know something looks unusual. At 150x the ' unusual 'star splits, giving the triple. Beta mons is a 2.6" double (according to sky safari pro, but I'll be checking stelle dopie!), so my 127mak has proved it can cleanly resolve at this level, at least,with clear sky between the stars. In theory it's rayleigh limit is 1.1",so I'd expect it to! 

Fancying my luck, I turned to Sirius, expecting the pup to come bounding towards me. Fat chance! It'll need something better than I have in my scope arsenal to see that little Loki! ? 

Rigel B was probably the easiest I've ever seen it. Absolutely no doubt, very clean split and very obvious. ?

I wonder if this was a night of good seeing? 

I couldn't see a mag 4.3 star that I could see a few nights ago, with naked eye. 

Mark

[Geoff Barnes]

Getting the most out of your scope there Mark, well done!

I was seeing E and F last night with my 12 inch Dob and Baader zoom, quite easily on 8mm FL (175×), and I could just about see them on 20mm (75×), certainly E and occasionally F.

Beta mons I see the triple clearly on 8mm and Sirius B is a challenge but I  usually can see it hiding in amongst the diffraction spikes.

[markclaire50]

13 minutes ago, Geoff Barnes said:

Getting the most out of your scope there Mark, well done!

I was seeing E and F last night with my 12 inch Dob and Baader zoom, quite easily on 8mm FL (175×), and I could just about see them on 20mm (75×), certainly E and occasionally F.

Beta mons I see the triple clearly on 8mm and Sirius B is a challenge but I  usually can see it hiding in amongst the diffraction spikes.

Thanks Geoff. I was inspired not to give up on the E star, from one of John's replies about the mak being capable of doing it. 

I can see why people can miss it though. I only saw it because I kept staring at the exact position where it should be. Most of the time, I just saw nothing. 

[Stu]

6 hours ago, markclaire50 said:

I wonder if this was a night of good seeing? 

I couldn't see a mag 4.3 star that I could see a few nights ago, with naked eye. 

Good stuff Mark, I suspect the seeing was probably a little better than you have had previously, but the transparency may have been worse causing you to see fewer fainter stars with the naked eye.

[Astro Imp]

Well done Mark, great piece of observing and a well written report.

[Guest]

Sounds like a fun evening. Sometimes less is more in terms of viewing 'itinerary'.  Will have a look at Beta Mons my next session.  What Barlow are you using BTW,  might be my next buy. 

[markclaire50]

8 hours ago, AstroCiaran123 said:

Sounds like a fun evening. Sometimes less is more in terms of viewing 'itinerary'.  Will have a look at Beta Mons my next session.  What Barlow are you using BTW,  might be my next buy. 

Good question. It's a gso 2x barlow, but the clever bit, is that you can unscrew the lens at the bottom of the barlow and screw it to your eyepiece. All my eyepieces have a screwthread allowing me to screw the barlow lens into it, giving 1.5x mag, instead of 2x. I found this feature far more useful than using the whole barlow! Turned my 24mm ES 68° into a 16mm (63 up to 92x) maintaining nice eye relief and sharp stars in my mak. ??

Mark 

[John]

Well done Mark

Beta Monocerotis has become a firm favourite with me now. It's a great one to show at outreach events too.

Iota Cassiopeia is another nice triple

[domstar]

Very nice. You accurately describe a lot of my observing sessions this year. I knew I had the E (and later F) stars when my head involuntarily jerked back. It gets easier every time assuming similar conditions but I need freezing January skies to split the most challenging of Orion's many beautiful doubles.