Well, One Fine Double Anyway!

[cloudsweeper]

Further to my earlier comments about starting up early with the Moon, by 21.35 the jagged shadow along Plato's eastern wall was good and clear.  By 22.17 it was darker, and Jupiter was on show, low in the south.  The usual four moons.  At x24 with the TV Plossl, the view was noticeably sharper and clearer (better contrast) than at x20 with the Meade 24mm UWA.  At x80, the equatorial belts were clear.

By 22.43, some fainter stars finally came into view in the EP, so I went for my first Ophiuchus double, Sigma 2276.  Going from x20 to x40, it split into a fine pair of eyes, side by side very close, and matched.  A very pleasing sight.

23.00 - cloud rolled in, but it was almost three hours of enjoyment and some success.  I'm happy with that!

Doug.

 

 

[MarsG76]

Sounds like a good night.

[Littleguy80]

Nice session, Doug. Been clouded out all week here. Is sketching a new thing for you? 

[cloudsweeper]

17 minutes ago, Littleguy80 said:

Nice session, Doug. Been clouded out all week here. Is sketching a new thing for you? 

Neil - I've done a bit of "sketching" before, just for doubles.  Still in the early stages.  I like white on black, but the pen is a bit runny and hard to control - difficult to show different magnitudes.  I'm thinking of doing black on white with a plain old biro, to maybe get more variation in dot sizes!

Doug.

[Littleguy80]

1 hour ago, cloudsweeper said:

Neil - I've done a bit of "sketching" before, just for doubles.  Still in the early stages.  I like white on black, but the pen is a bit runny and hard to control - difficult to show different magnitudes.  I'm thinking of doing black on white with a plain old biro, to maybe get more variation in dot sizes!

Doug.

It’s very tricky. I’ve dabbled with it. Do you use a tracking mount when you sketch? I always feel like I need about 3 pairs of hands to hold everything! Looking forward to seeing more sketches from you  

[Lurcher]

I'm beginning to really appreciate double stars, but it;s something quite new to me. Can I ask, what do you mean by "matched"?? Is that you determined they were of the same magnitude?

Thanks. (I've got so many objects I want to look at, but I'll have to add your double to it now, and see how I get on!). Thanks for posting.

[cloudsweeper]

4 hours ago, Littleguy80 said:

It’s very tricky. I’ve dabbled with it. Do you use a tracking mount when you sketch? I always feel like I need about 3 pairs of hands to hold everything! Looking forward to seeing more sketches from you  

Tracking helps, but is not vital.  I used GoTo last night.  I am fortunate in having the Dobhouse with a surface I can use for scribbling observations and sketches.  Hope future offerings will be more detailed/clear in terms of relative mags of stars.  And a rich background helps makes the sketches more appealing!  What I offered above was, in fact, all that was on show, as the sky wasn't very dark.

Doug.

[cloudsweeper]

4 hours ago, Lurcher said:

I'm beginning to really appreciate double stars, but it;s something quite new to me. Can I ask, what do you mean by "matched"?? Is that you determined they were of the same magnitude?

Thanks. (I've got so many objects I want to look at, but I'll have to add your double to it now, and see how I get on!). Thanks for posting.

Doubles (meaning doubles, triples, etc.) are great - they can be challenging, and vary enormously (brightnesses, separation, colours), and can often be viewed even when the sky is not all that dark.

Matched - yes, the same magnitude.  In the example given, the magnitudes are 7.1 and 7.4 - a good match, and almost identical to the eye.  Others are even closer.  To really get into doubles, I recommend the Cambridge Double Star Atlas, Second Edition.

Have fun!

Doug.

[Lurcher]

5 hours ago, cloudsweeper said:

Cambridge Double Star Atlas, Second Edition.

I've been looking and thinking about one of those for a while. I've just bought an actual Will Tirion skyatlas 2000 as I really wanted one of those, but thanks I will now see if I can hunt down a reasonably priced double star atlas. (From memory there weren't many out there so they tend to hold their price, but it would be good to have one). Thanks.