Dragon's Eyes, cat's eyes & The Cat's Eye.

[lenscap]

Decided to use the clear night to look at some doubles in Draco.     200p F/5,  EQ3-2, Onstep Goto. Average seeing.

Nu Dra, Kuma is the faintest of 4 stars of the dragon's head. With identical 4.85 mag components it is a binocular (62"), double known as the Dragon's Eyes (copyright Sissy Haas).

Mu Dra, Arrakis is a 5th mag  2.6" yellow/white pair about 7* to the W. A tiny dumbbell at X100, it split cleanly at X200.

16/17 Dra is a wide 90" 5th/6th mag double a further 7* to the W. On closer inspection 17 just splits to reveal a third 3" component with a 10mm Plossl (X100).

31 Dra, Dziban, located on the Dragon's neck, has mag 5.7 & 4.6 yellow components seen in a 32mm Plossl with a faint unrelated 3rd nearby forming an acute triangle.

NGC 6543, The Cat's Eye Nebula is a must when visiting Draco. I could only see stars in the 32mm but with a 10mm eyepiece one of the "stars" turned into a grey or bluish/grey slightly squashed disk about the apparent size of Saturn. Some planetaries don't look like planets, but the Cat's Eye does!  It is easy to imagine you are looking at a giant planet rather than a tenous bubble of gas.

     With  a star also visible in the 10mm FOV, this is an ideal target to demonstrate Averted Vision. Look at the field star and the Nebula brightens considerably, look directly and it        dims. You can flick it on and off at will.

 40/41 Dra, located about halfway between the Cat's Eye and Polaris, is a different type of cat's eyes, a 19" pair of identical mag 6 yellow stars looking like a distant feline at X30.

47 Dra is a fainter but wider, 8th mag, 37" binocular pair of eyes.

39 Dra is a yellow primary with a tight 3.7", faint 8th mag companion that showed a hairline split at X100.

Epsilon Dra is challenging with a mag 3.8 primary & a 6.9 mag secondary seperated by 3.2". In average seeing with a wobbly primary star, I got an intermittent split at X200.

Struve 2549 is a fascinating multiple with three main, subtly coloured,  8/9 th mag components each seperated by about 28" forming an arc with a fainter 4th about 55" away, all visible in a 32mm eyepiece. The colours are hard to pin down. I saw them as yellow/blue/white from E to W. Your mileage may vary. If you fancy a challenge and have dark skies & sharp optics the Eastern star is apparently itself a close, 2", double with a 12th mag companion!

This was a really enjoyable 2 hours on a warm night. I am getting used to shirt-sleeve astronomy. The cold weather will be a terrible shock when it arrives. 😀

 

[Rob Sellent]

Looks like you had an amazing session, Lenscap Doubles really do provide a lot enjoyment: those color contrasts, those little gems on a background of gorgeous star fields and the challange of very tight doubles. I wonder with your own liking of doubles, you'll end up with a smaller frac to accompany your 8" if you haven't done already?

[lenscap]

15 hours ago, Rob Sellent said:

I wonder with your own liking of doubles, you'll end up with a smaller frac to accompany your 8"

My budget doesn't run to a decent frac. I made an 80mm off-axis aperture mask for the Newt.

It removes the diffraction spikes and gives a more refractor-like view which is better on tight, bright doubles like Izar.

[wookie1965]

Great report there are plenty of doubles in draco to cover 2/3 nights.