I split Sirius! (I think)

[markse68]

@Stu check Sirius tonight as it’s super stable right now and I’m pretty sure I saw the pup 😃 If Rigel b is at 12 o’clock, the pup is at about 4. Using a 6mm ortho in my 8” f8 dob. Very faint but definitely there I think. Can’t quite believe it after trying so many times 😊

[Stu]

Thanks Mark. I’ve got the 8” f8 out so if I can escape bath duty in time I will have a look. I must say Venus looked excellent just now.

[Barry-W-Fenner]

I had a look at Sirius aswell earlier at X300 probably a bit to optimistic of me 😁 however it was very shimmery, I couldn't resolve it at that power. I might have another look later at about 150 or 200 mag to see if I can split!

[celestron8g8]

Congratulations if  you did . I did that once in the past with a 2x barlow and a 12mm Plossi/light blue filter in my C8 SCT .

[markse68]

11 minutes ago, Stu said:

Thanks Mark. I’ve got the 8” f8 out so if I can escape bath duty in time I will have a look. I must say Venus looked excellent just now.

The moon is achingly beautiful tonight too

[celestron8g8]

Glad ya'll can see it . Down here in Texas we got cloud cover .

[markse68]

53 minutes ago, Barry-W-Fenner said:

I had a look at Sirius aswell earlier at X300 probably a bit to optimistic of me 😁 however it was very shimmery, I couldn't resolve it at that power. I might have another look later at about 150 or 200 mag to see if I can split!

I think it was a case of right place right time Baz- now when I look the seeing has deteriorated - the moon is shimmering and Sirius is back to its normal fuzzy shimmering and no chance. Earlier though between gusts when the scope settled I even saw it with my xf8.5mm- I’m sure it was the pup

[Stu]

I didn’t see it Mark, tried the Nag zoom up to pretty high power but no luck. However, your suggestion had me out in the garden at the right time to see this, which was amazing, so thank you for the heads up!

 

[markse68]

42 minutes ago, Stu said:

I didn’t see it Mark, tried the Nag zoom up to pretty high power but no luck. However, your suggestion had me out in the garden at the right time to see this, which was amazing, so thank you for the heads up!

 

Haha- I was going to post about this too Stu- I was looking  at the lower part of the moon (lower in ep view) when a sharp white dot passed in front of it. Then another then another- maybe 5 of them. Figured it must have been starlink- first time I’ve seen them! Unfortunately I was quite tight in with I think a 10mm ortho so I didn’t see the trail but it was very strange and pretty cool 😊

[John]

Well done if you have got it !

Here is my sketch of Sirius A and B made around a year ago with my 12 inch dob. Its position angle has changed a little in the past year but not a great deal:

The B star (the Pup) trails behind Sirus A as it drifts across an un-driven field of view.

 

[markse68]

Thanks John, I’m convinced it was and confirmed with 2 eps- Sirius itself was less noisy than your sketch the seeing was so good and according to sky safari with a double flip it should look like this now which is how I saw it- unfortunately for some inexplicable reason Sky Safari doesn’t show Rigel b to double check 🤷‍♂️

[John]

Good one - sounds like your conditions were much better than mine tonight. Every time I've observed it with my 12 inch dob, even under the best conditions, the B star has glimmered faintly out through the glare that surrounds Sirius A. Not at all like observing a "conventional" double star (eg: Rigel) although the separation between A & B is about the same as Rigel and its companion.

I've found 265x - 318x the optimum magnification for seeing this. Pentax XW 5mm or Ethos 6mm. My 1st ever sighting of it (about 4 years back) was with the same scope and a 6mm Baader Genuine Ortho eyepiece.

I have spotted Sirius B a couple of times with my 130mm triplet refractor but it is more obvious (though still hard and not consistently seen) with the 12 inch dob.

You have done very well to get it with your 8 inch dob IMHO

 

[Stu]

1 hour ago, markse68 said:

Haha- I was going to post about this too Stu- I was looking  at the lower part of the moon (lower in ep view) when a sharp white dot passed in front of it. Then another then another- maybe 5 of them. Figured it must have been starlink- first time I’ve seen them! Unfortunately I was quite tight in with I think a 10mm ortho so I didn’t see the trail but it was very strange and pretty cool 😊

Good wasn’t it. I only saw two actually transit, the others missed above it. Really good to see and actually better in the wider field of view.

[markse68]

 

13 minutes ago, John said:

Good one - sounds like your conditions were much better than mine tonight. Every time I've observed it with my 12 inch dob, even under the best conditions, the B star has glimmered faintly out through the glare that surrounds Sirius A. Not at all like observing a "conventional" double star (eg: Rigel) although the separation between A & B is about the same as Rigel and its companion.

I've found 265x - 318x the optimum magnification for seeing this. Pentax XW 5mm or Ethos 6mm. My 1st ever sighting of it (about 4 years back) was with the same scope and a 6mm Baader Genuine Ortho eyepiece.

I have spotted Sirius B a couple of times with my 130mm triplet refractor but it is more obvious (though still hard and not consistently seen) with the 12 inch dob.

You have done very well to get it with your 8 inch dob IMHO

 

“Lucky” I think John 😉

I’ve  had a few less than spectacular evenings the past month bemoaning not having much to look at what with  Orion setting earlier and my skies being pretty useless for dsos. But I’ve had to keep working through the cv lockdown so took my scope with me and have had just the most enjoyable 3 past early evenings of perfect skies and great seeing. The pup and starlink transiting the moon tonight have been the icing on the cake 😊

[markse68]

Past couple of nights I’ve caught fleeting glimpses of it again- it has to be the incredible clear skies we”re having courtesy of the virus

[Barry-W-Fenner]

No joy for me Mark. I tried to split it. A bit optimistic of me with the 8" but as you say the sky's have been in our favour so it doesn't hurt to try! It's so bring though I'm not having any joy.

Did manage E & F in the trap which is great. Had a look at regal b very low and a bit fuzzy.  A new one for me though what the Iota tripple, its taken me a while to get round to viewing this but it was certainly worth it!

glad everyone is getting some sky time!

Baz

[timwetherell]

28 minutes ago, Barry-W-Fenner said:

No joy for me Mark. I tried to split it. A bit optimistic of me with the 8"

I've split it a couple of times in the UK with a 7" so you should be able to with an 8. It all comes down to atmosphere. When I lived in Australia and sirius was almost overhead the pup wasn't even really much a challenge with a 7", one could see it 90% of the time. Same with Antares, quite difficult in the UK which is a shame because it's one of the most beautiful doubles!

 

[markse68]

10 hours ago, Barry-W-Fenner said:

No joy for me Mark. I tried to split it. A bit optimistic of me with the 8"

Mines an 8” too Baz. I’ve found it seems to happen early evening just after it gets dark- for some reason the seeing seems to get worse as it gets colder 🤷‍♂️ And it’s not easy- I’ve been swapping eps and staring hard at it tweaking best focus for ages before I get a glimpse- literally willing it into existence 😉 I also found it useful to reference Rigel to get a feel for the spacing and positioning- the pup is about 4 o’clock relative to Rigel b’s 12 o’clock in dob view

Oh and I forgot the scope has to be perfectly still- I had to wait for lulls in the breeze to stand a chance

Edited April 5, 2020 by markse68

[markse68]

1 hour ago, timwetherell said:

Same with Antares, quite difficult in the UK which is a shame because it's one of the most beautiful doubles!

I tried many times in vain to split Antares last year. Really looking forward to giving it another shot this year and hopeful of success with improvements I’ve made to my scope 🤞 But I don’t know if it ever really gets high enough for my skies

[John]

I got Antares once with my 130mm triplet. Just the once though.

Sirius is easier with some light still in the sky. It gets harder as it gets darker. Like many astro observations there is a "goldilocks" period when there is just the right amount of light in the sky to control the glare from the primary while still allowing the much dimmer secondary to glimmer though.

Sirius has never looked to me like a "classic" binary though, ie: two crisp airy disks side by side. It's always been a matter of peering though the "skirts" of Sirus A to try and catch the glimmer of the Pup. If the seeing is less than good the glare and shimmer of the primary extends further out and that kills the dim Pup star.

 

[Stu]

Just now, John said:

Sirius has never looked to me like a "classic" binary though, ie: two crisp airy disks side by side. It's always been a matter of peering though the "skirts" of Sirus A to try and catch the glimmer of the Pup.

Great description John! Still never seen it, perhaps one day I’ll get lucky 🍀

[timwetherell]

28 minutes ago, John said:

ISirius is easier with some light still in the sky. It gets harder as it gets darker. Like many astro observations there is a "goldilocks" period when there is just the right amount of light in the sky to control the glare from the primary while still allowing the much dimmer secondary to glimmer though.

Interesting idea I hadn't thought of doing that. Will give it a try