Splendid Double In Bootes, Zoom-Assisted

[cloudsweeper]

8.10pm Monday - big AR 127L frac ready - Moon waxing gibbous, SE in a clear, light sky.  I haven't tried this 'scope with the new BVs, so did so to find - as expected - that it just needed the extension tube off and the Barlow on.

Main goal - Bootes doubles, but too early, so stayed with Luna a while.  By 8.40, there was a fair bit of detail near the terminator (mag x92), with craters Aristarchus and Herodotus well defined, and Schroter's Valley rising from just north of Herodotus and curving to the west.  There were moments of considerable instability.  About an hour later, I switched to Cyclops vision, x50 - a fine view, but too bright.  Up to x200 - Schroter's Valley region very good.

9.50 - first target Izar {Pulcherrima, the most beautiful, a 1+(2) visual double, 2.9" of separation} was on show - orange in appearance, x33 (searching mag).  Up to x120, and the secondary was spotted, faint, perhaps bluish, at about 1 o'clock.  Tricky to detect because the primary is so bright.  Sky Safari confirmed I had the secondary in the right place.  Phew!

10.05 - across to Thiba {another visual double, (2)+1, mismatched, superwide at 105"}.  The faint companion was of course well separated at x33, sitting at 4 o'clock.  The primary was orange.  I hopped to a noticeable pair {HIPs 75928/76006}, then, at 10.30,  north to:

Alkalurops {a (2)+2 visual triple, primary brighter, but the superwide (109") pair of companions closely matched, and separated by just 2.3"}.  The fainter pair were again well separated from the primary, sitting at 7 o'clock.  Now to split them!  I kept losing the target on raising the mag - field reduced, focus out - so turned to the Meade 24-8 zoom.  It was captivating to see the stars part, then the close pair just separate by x150.  The lower of the matched pair was again at 7 o'clock, so that all three were in line - a fine spectacle (see sketch), highly recommended to lovers of double stars!  

Finished at 10.40 after 2.5 very enjoyable and rewarding hours.

Thanks for reading,

Doug.

[F15Rules]

Nice report, Doug.

It sounds as though your 5" Bresser is delivering the goods nicely!👍

Dave

[John]

Great report Doug !

I love zoom eyepieces for double splitting

I have my 130mm refractor out cooling just now so I will visit Bootes if it stays clear.

 

[Jiggy 67]

Zooms are great for close doubles. Nice to see a star split in two as you zoom in 

[cloudsweeper]

2 hours ago, F15Rules said:

Nice report, Doug.

It sounds as though your 5" Bresser is delivering the goods nicely!👍

Dave

Thanks Dave - yes, the 127L is a fine 'scope.  Positively fast compared with your 80mm though!   😉     Doug.

 

59 minutes ago, John said:

Great report Doug !

I love zoom eyepieces for double splitting

I have my 130mm refractor out cooling just now so I will visit Bootes if it stays clear.

 

Thanks John - hope it's clear for you.  My 102S frac is in the shed ready for a bit of action.           Doug.

Edited May 5, 2020 by cloudsweeper

[Telescope40]

Hello Doug.  @cloudsweeper Had a rather nice read of your session. Sounded rather good. You gave me inspiration for my couple/of hours last night.

Was looking to follow in your footsteps.  Doubles are not my usual targets to be honest.  Using my SW 150 frac and ES 8.8 EP.   136 X    In the garden. 

Started by using doubles suggested by the Synscan unit on my mount.  Izar, Iota Cancer.  Double double.  Now on to Bootes. Synscan  again  gave me a couple to look at. 44 Bootes and Delta. Bootes.  Time to try for your 2 that you mention. 

Thiba -. Not showing on my Synscan handset and I went to SkySafari for some co ordinates.  Still no joy ??  Probably me TBH being dumb. Anyhow - Alkalurops.  Found co ordinates on SS and I popped them into my handset - not done this method in a LONG time - Bingo !!   Just as per your sketch.  Well chuffed. 

You have started a new route for me with doubles.  Quite a number still to troll thru on my handset. 

Finally jumped over to Luna.  Bit wobbly to be honest but Schoters V looking good and a couple of craterlets on the floor of Plato observed.   

Headed in then for a brew.  

Best regards.  John 

Edited May 6, 2020 by Telescope40

[cloudsweeper]

Hello John @Telescope40 - welcome to the Doubles Fan Club!  Great targets - so much variety (magnitudes, colours, separations, dispositions, numbers of components, degrees of difficulty, etc.).  There are so many to choose from, and they often don't need dark or Moonless skies.

If you haven't got it, I recommend the Cambridge Double Star Atlas, 2nd Edition.  It gives the SAO numbers for doubles, so you can put them into Stellarium or Sky Safari, then you know where to hop to.  And if you're using GoTo, put the numbers into the Handset.  My Celestron HS contains most of the numbers.

Enjoy!

Doug.

 

 

[Telescope40]

37 minutes ago, cloudsweeper said:

Hello John @Telescope40 - welcome to the Doubles Fan Club!  Great targets - so much variety (magnitudes, colours, separations, dispositions, numbers of components, degrees of difficulty, etc.).  There are so many to choose from, and they often don't need dark or Moonless skies.

If you haven't got it, I recommend the Cambridge Double Star Atlas, 2nd Edition.  It gives the SAO numbers for doubles, so you can put them into Stellarium or Sky Safari, then you know where to hop to.  And if you're using GoTo, put the numbers into the Handset.  My Celestron HS contains most of the numbers.

Enjoy!

Doug.

 

 

Doug. I’ll give this a follow up. Nothing ventured and all that 

John 

[Guest]

The title reminds me of this...😆

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90kC--xjLaQ&feature=youtu.be

[F15Rules]

5 hours ago, Telescope40 said:

Doubles are not my usual targets to be honest.

John, really? With a 6" refractor??😱🤣

Your scope is MADE for doubles, same scope type as used by "Old Nick" (Cotterless), our resident Doubles Guru..you have some future treats in store my friend!

Dave

Edited May 6, 2020 by F15Rules

[cloudsweeper]

3 hours ago, F15Rules said:

John, really? With a 6" refractor??😱🤣

Your scope is MADE for doubles, same scope type as used by "Old Nick" (Cotterless), our resident Doubles Guru..you have some future treats in store my friend!

Dave

 Thanks Dave, I was going to mention Nick @cotterless45 - his posts are very useful to doubles enthusiasts!

Doug.

[Telescope40]

38 minutes ago, cloudsweeper said:

 Thanks Dave, I was going to mention Nick @cotterless45 - his posts are very useful to doubles enthusiasts!

John, really? With a 6" refractor??

Your scope is MADE for doubles, same scope type as used by "Old Nick" (Cotterless), our resident Doubles Guru..you have some future treats in store my friend!

Yes guys. I’ve seen posts from Cotterless. Going to add him onto my “follow” list. 
I’ve only ever done the “odd” double here and there. More clusters and DSO plus solar system my usual targets. 

John 

[F15Rules]

I got the FS128 out last night between about 10pm and 11.30pm with a break in between for a domestic task.

Not a cloud in the sky, and a very bright super-full-moon. Unfortunately the moon was very close to Bootes last night and it made it very difficult to make out the main shape of the constellation, never mind the fainter naked eye targets! However, using my 9x50 Raci finder to locate fainter stars I was able to view the following: 

(Seeing was very good last night).

- Arcturus.. not a double (as far as I know!), but just a beautiful golden-orange scintillating point of light.. I always think that Arcturus looks great in a twilit blue sky too, it seems to enhance the colour contrast even more. Interesting fact: in 1933, the starlight from Arcturus was used to trigger off the lights of the Chicago Worlds' Fair... http://wendycitychicago.com/a-worlds-fair-moment-the-star-that-connected-1893-and-1933/

- Xi Bootis: mags 4 & 7, distance 6.9" an attractive fairly closely separated pair which is only 22 light years away.

- Zeta Bootis..a triple, main pair 0.9". separation, with a faint mag 10.5" companion 99" distant. I couldn't be sure I located this system at all, due to the overwhelming brightness of the moon..If indeed I had located the right star, I couldn't see any sign of a split of the close pair, and couldn't see the mag 10.5 component - normally easy to see stars of this magnitude with direct vision in the FS128. I'll save this system for a moonless night, it will be a real test for my Tak. 

- Izar Epsilon Bootis (Pulcherrima) superb colour mix of orange/yellow primary with a delicate pastel blue fainter companion - mags 2.5 & 4.9, long period double, close pair at 2.9" separation. Stunning.

- Kappa Bootis very nice, easy pair at 13.4"separation.

- Iota Bootis - a nice, wide easy pair of mags 4.9 and 7.5 at 38.5" separation. Looks very like a higher magnification version of Kappa, with similar position angle and presentation. Also in the same finder field as Kappa.

These two stars are both located at the northern end of Bootes and Alkaid ( ETA Ursa Majoris, mag 1.84) makes a good nearby guide star.

Eyepieces used: Carton 7-21mm zoom, Carton Gen 10.5mm, both with and without Baader Hyperion Barlow 2.25x.

A very enjoyable session with calm steady skies. I saw no less than 8 various satellites crossing my field of view, plus one naked eye one!

Thanks to Doug for promoting this target area! 👍

Dave

 

         

[JeremyS]

That's sounds like it was a good evening Dave @F15Rules!

[F15Rules]

1 hour ago, JeremyS said:

That's sounds like it was a good evening Dave @F15Rules!

Thanks Jeremy.

Yes, I'm not normally a fan of full moon due to the glare, and usually give observing a miss til a few days after full phase: but reading Doug's post, plus lack of much observing lately prompted me to get out for a session.

And I'm glad I did, a lovely calm night with steady skies

Dave

Edited May 7, 2020 by F15Rules