what mag to see the most doubles?

[kniclander]

ok then this might sound like a silly question but i was looking through some 20x100 bins just scanning the sky and seeing quite a lot of nice doubles. Now, if i was looking through a scope at, say x150, a lot of those doubles wouldn't look like doubles cos they would be too far apart (ie not even in the same FOV). And if I had a scope which i could take up to x1000 or x5000 :shock: (i don't ) then there presumably would be loads of other (much closer) doubles i could see. So, is there a mag which would show you the most doubles? hmmm - could it be to do with most doubles being binary systems and stars in binary systems being a certain distance apart and within a range of distances from us ..? :scratch:

thanks for any answers

Dan

[GazOC]

There is a fairly complex way (I think there may be several ways) of mathematically expressing the likelyhood of two stars being true binaries, ie. gravitationally bound, based on separation and magnitude. Is that the king of thing you mean?

[kniclander]

er, it might be - to put it another way, if things were just random then i would think you would see about the same number of doubles whatever mag you used. However, if there are lot of stars in binary systems then the mag that would show you the most doubles would be the one that was right for those binary stars ...

[lunator]

There are several methods is deciding whether pairs are bound by gravity or not. One of the most common is the Aitken Criterion. You can read more about it here.

http://www.jdso.org/volume2/number1/Romero2.pdf

Regarding the magnication required, there is no right answer. Visual doubles can be observed Naked eye, Bnoculars, small scope or large scope.

I have observed 300 pairs using no scope or a scope upto 11" (Kelling last year).

Cheers

Ian

[kniclander]

I have observed 300 pairs using no scope or a scope upto 11" (Kelling last year).

Cheers

Ian

:shock: :shock: how many weeks were you there.... :shock: :shock:

thanks Ian - I will find a doubles for binos guide

[Talitha]

Hi Dan, here's a list to get you started. There are others out there, too.. do a websearch on 'binocular doubles'.

[lunator]

I have observed 300 pairs using no scope or a scope upto 11" (Kelling last year).

Cheers

Ian

:shock: :shock: how many weeks were you there.... :shock: :shock:

thanks Ian - I will find a doubles for binos guide

I bought a season ticket :lol: