Colour contrasting double stars

[MylesGibson]

I wasn't too sure which section to post this in, as there was deep sky, planetary, lunar, solar etc but not stars! 

Anyway, I thought this might be nice for some people to have a go at visually!

Ever since my first sight of the star Albireo I have loved double stars that have a nice colour contrast in the pair. So, I have gathered a list of those I have observed and those I want to observe. I thought I would share them here if anyone else wants to have a go at working through them and looking at the colour differences.

A few things to note:

• The stars aren't all binary pairs. Some (if not most) are just optical doubles, but their position in our line of sight and the colour contrasts mean they have been added to the list!
• Some of the colours can be hard to discern. For example, some stars that have similar colours (yellow primary, white secondary for example) can sometimes look the same during bright moon phases or poor seeing. Observing another day may allow you to see the colour difference

If anyone has any others they want to add, please do and I'll add them to my Sky Safari observing list/Word document!

Name	Constellation	Reference	RA	DEC	Mag (P)	Mag (S)	Observed Colours
Pi	Andromedae	SAO 54033	00 36.9	+33 43	4.5	8.5	White and blue
Gamma	Andromedae	SAO 37734	02 03.9	+42 19	2.3	5.5	Orange and blue or orange and yellow
Tau1	Aquarii	SAO 165298	22 47.3	-14 03	5.7	9.2	White and pale red
94	Aquarii	SAO 165642	23 19.1	-13 27	5.3	7.3	Reddish-white and light blue
107	Aquarii	SAO 165867	23 46.0	-18 40	5.4	5.7	White and blue or white and yellow-white
1	Arietis	SAO 74966	01 50.2	+22 16	5.8	7.1	White and green
Gamma	Arietis	SAO 92680	01 53.6	+19 17	4.6	4.7	Orange and green or both white
Lambda	Arietis	SAO 75051	01 57.9	+23 36	4.8	7.6	Yellow and blue
30	Arietis	SAO 75470	02 37.0	+24 39	6.2	7.2	Yellow and blue
14	Aurigae	SAO 57799	05 15.4	+32 41	5.4	7.5	Pale yellow and orange
Epsilon	Bootis	HIP 72105	14 45.0	+27 04	2.5	4.9	Yellow-orange and blue
Xi	Bootis	SAO 101250	14 51.4	+19 05	4.7	7	Yellow and red
Delta	Bootis	SAO 64589	15 15.5	+33 18	3.5	8.7	Light yellow and light blue
Beta	Capricornus	SAO 163481	20 21.0	-14 46	3.2	6.2	Orange-yellow and sky blue
S3053	Cassiopeiae	SAO 10937	00 02.6	+66 06	5.9	7.3	Red and White
Alpha	Cassiopeiae	SAO 21609	00 40.6	+56 32	2.2	8.9	Reddish-white + blue
Eta	Cassiopeiae	SAO 21732	00 49.1	+57 49	3.7	7.5	Yel-wht+red-purple, or light yel +org, or gold+purple, or yel+red
Beta	Cephei	SAO 10057	21 28.7	+70 34	3.2	7.9	White and blue
Delta	Cephei	SAO 34508	22 29.2	+58 24	3.9	6.3	Orange and blue
Iota	Cancri	SAO 80416	08 46.7	+28 45	4.2	6.6	Yellow and blue or gold and light blue
-	Canis Majoris	SAO 173349	07 17.28	-23 21	4.82	5.84	Striking Blue and Gold
17	ComaeBerenices	SAO 82330	12 28.9	+25 54	5.4	6.7	White and lilac
24	ComaeBerenices	SAO 100160	12 35.1	+18 22	5.2	6.7	Orange and emerald or gold and blue
Zeta	Coronae Borealis	SAO 64833	15 39.4	+36 38	5.1	6	Blue-white and blue
Delta	Corvi	SAO 157323	12 29.9	-16 31	3.1	8.6	Yellow and red-purple
Alpha	CanumVenaticorum	SAO 63256	12 56.1	+38 18	2.9	5.8	Blue-white both or blue-white and green
Beta	Cygni	SAO 87301 (Albiero)	19 30.8	+27 57	3.1	5.1	Gold and blue or yellow and green
Omicron	Cygni	SAO 49337	20 13.7	+46 44	3.8	4.8	orange, blue, blue(Mag 6.7, 337s), and a 4th 13 mag at 34
52	Cygni	SAO 70467	20 45.7	+30 43	4.3	0	Orange and blue
Gamma	Delphini	SAO 106475	20 46.7	+16 07	4.3	5.2	Yellow and green
32	Eridani	SAO 130806	03 54.3	-02 57	4.7	6.2	Yellow and greenish blue
Alpha	Herculis	SAO 102680 (RasAlgethi)	17 14.7	+14 23	3.2	5.4	Orange and blue-green
95	Herculis	SAO 85647	18 01.5	+21 35	5	5.1	Green and red-yellow
Tau 1	Hydrae	SAO 136895	09 29.0	-02 46	4.6	7.2	White and lilac
Tau	Leonis	SAO 118875	11 28.0	+02 50	5.2	7	Yellow and blue
Gamma	Leporis	SAO 170759	05 44.5	-22 27	3.8	6.5	Yellow and red
Iota	Librae	SAO 159090	15 12.3	-19 47	4.7	9.4	Pale yellow and red-purple
Zeta	Lyrae	SAO 67321	18 44.8	+37 36	4.3	5.9	Red and blue-green
Delta	Lyrae	SAO 67537	18 54.0	+36 55	5.6	4.3	Blue/white and orange/red
Omicron	Ophiuchi	SAO 185238	17 18.0	-24 17	5.2	6.6	Yellow and pale blue or orange and blue
70	Ophiuchi	SAO 123107	18 05.5	+02 30	4.2	6	Yellow and red-orange
Rho	Ophiuchi	SAO 184382	05 13.3	+02 51	5	9	Yellow and pale orange
Iota	Orionis	HIP 26241 (Nai al Saif) In Orion Nebula	05 35.4	-05 54	2.8	7	White, light-green, and purple(Mag 7.5, 50s from primary)
Eta	Persei	SAO 23655	02 50.7	+55 53	3.8	8.5	Gold and royal blue
6	Trianguli	SAO 55347	02 12.4	+30 18	5.3	6.9	Yellow and blue

I hope that will be enough to keep people going. There will always be something to observe on this list at any time of the year! As I said above, please feel free to add any that you have observed that I have missed!

[Paz]

There's plenty of good doubles in that list to keep anyone busy!

There is a double star and variable star section but it's in the Science section rather than in the Observing section of the forum.

Edited August 19, 2020 by Paz

[MylesGibson]

3 hours ago, Paz said:

There's plenty of good doubles in that list to keep anyone busy!

There is a double star and variable star section but it's in the Science section rather than in the Observing section of the forum.

Ahh. Maybe there should be one in the observing section as well. They can be separate subjects as there is a lot of cool science to go with it, but also a lot of nice visual things to be done with stars

[Stu]

Nice list Myles. Not sure if you know, but there is a coloured doubles list you can import into SkySafari. If you go to observing lists, there is an option to import from the online repository. The Coloured Doubles list has 54 entries, some or even many may duplicate yours but there may be some useful additions in there too. Worth a look.

[MylesGibson]

5 minutes ago, Stu said:

Nice list Myles. Not sure if you know, but there is a coloured doubles list you can import into SkySafari. If you go to observing lists, there is an option to import from the online repository. The Coloured Doubles list has 54 entries, some or even many may duplicate yours but there may be some useful additions in there too. Worth a look.

I did not know that! Thanks, I'll check that out. My personal list has 45, so the sky safari one must have a few I have missed! I'll definitely download that one and compare, see if there are some I have that they don't and vice versa. 

I wasn't even aware there were lists you could import as I had never looked for that feature, I had just created my own lists! All of mine were chosen as I can see them from my latitude, so perhaps the Sky Safari one has a few I will be unable to see

Edited August 19, 2020 by MylesGibson

[Paz]

1 hour ago, MylesGibson said:

Ahh. Maybe there should be one in the observing section as well. They can be separate subjects as there is a lot of cool science to go with it, but also a lot of nice visual things to be done with stars

Yes I would vote for there to be a doubles / variables part of the observing section.

[Stu]

1 hour ago, MylesGibson said:

I wasn't even aware there were lists you could import

There are actually loads of them for a wide range of different target types, including the Cambridge Double star atlas and the SAC Best Multiple Stars. Really handy.

[MylesGibson]

24 minutes ago, Paz said:

Yes I would vote for there to be a doubles / variables part of the observing section.

No idea how to bring that idea forward to people who can do that though.

10 minutes ago, Stu said:

There are actually loads of them for a wide range of different target types, including the Cambridge Double star atlas and the SAC Best Multiple Stars. Really handy.

I've just found them and had a look through. Some good ones in there! The coloured doubles gave me an extra few to add to my list. I only had 1 they missed. I've got the physical copy of the cambridge double star atlas, but there were a few lists I went and downloaded! That'll keep me busy for a while!

[Stu]

1 minute ago, MylesGibson said:

No idea how to bring that idea forward to people who can do that though.

I’ll ask the question ‘downstairs’ and see what the consensus is.

[JeremyS]

@MylesGibson and @Stu, thanks for the info on these coloured doubles. I’ve downloaded the Sky Safari list (wasn’t aware such downloads existed) 👍

[MylesGibson]

3 hours ago, Stu said:

I’ll ask the question ‘downstairs’ and see what the consensus is.

Excellent! Keep us updated!

[RobertI]

On 19/08/2020 at 00:47, MylesGibson said:

Anyway, I thought this might be nice for some people to have a go at visually!

Nice list of coloured doubles, thanks, I'll have a look for any I've not seen yet. It would be helpful to have the separation in the table too.

I've just done a count up and I've got a total of 49 imported observing lists in SkySafari! In addition to the ones Stu mentioned above, I also have the AL Carbon Star List (The Astronomical League) - not doubles but still colured and lovely to look at!

Edited August 20, 2020 by RobertI

[MylesGibson]

13 hours ago, RobertI said:

Nice list of coloured doubles, thanks, I'll have a look for any I've not seen yet. It would be helpful to have the separation in the table too.

I've just done a count up and I've got a total of 49 imported observing lists in SkySafari! In addition to the ones Stu mentioned above, I also have the AL Carbon Star List (The Astronomical League) - not doubles but still colured and lovely to look at!

Thanks, I may look at adding the separation to the table at some point then!

As for Carbon stars, I do have a list 100 somewhere. Not managed to find them all yet as all my lists I find manually and some of them have proven tricky! Might put the list of Carbons up here soon as well if people would be interested!

[Gfamily]

I've put a link to this thread on our club Facebook page, and created a PDF of your list that people can download/print off. 

Hope you're ok with that. 

[MylesGibson]

4 minutes ago, Gfamily said:

I've put a link to this thread on our club Facebook page, and created a PDF of your list that people can download/print off. 

Hope you're ok with that. 

Absolutely. I'm pleased that it will be used by others  

[mikeDnight]

On 19/08/2020 at 13:42, Paz said:

There is a double star and variable star section but it's in the Science section rather than in the Observing section of the forum.

I for one forget to look at the science section. Double and variable stars definitely need to be moved to the Observing section. 

[wookie1965]

I have a txt file of over a hundred of the most beautiful double stars if anyone is interested.

[MylesGibson]

11 hours ago, wookie1965 said:

I have a txt file of over a hundred of the most beautiful double stars if anyone is interested.

Fingers crossed then that we are able to get a 'Stars' topic into the Observing section. Then we can get some nice posts with doubles, binaries, coloured doubles, carbons, variables etc. Lots of types of star that can be observed

[MylesGibson]

@Stu it seems from the responses that a Stars section could be a good idea that would get a good bit of use

[wookie1965]

1 hour ago, MylesGibson said:

Fingers crossed then that we are able to get a 'Stars' topic into the Observing section. Then we can get some nice posts with doubles, binaries, coloured doubles, carbons, variables etc. Lots of types of star that can be observed

I have a few just not sure if they will post on here. Tried before and the links take you to my files, I need to figure out how to upload maybe to Dropbox. 

[Pixies]

2 hours ago, MylesGibson said:

@Stu it seems from the responses that a Stars section could be a good idea that would get a good bit of use

I agree. I was wondering why the double star observing forum was under the 'Science' section. 

[glafnazur]

I'd definitely like to see a Stars section. I find observing coloured stars and, especially coloured doubles, is my favourite past time.

[MylesGibson]

Well, as it is winter, my favourite double for these months is HD56577 in Canis Major. We've had terrible weather here for many weeks now so have barely been able to observe, but looking forward to viewing some of these winter gems. 

@Stu did anything ever come of creating a "stars" section in the end?

[Pixies]

Thread necromancy!

@Stu - was there ever a discussion about adding a double-star/variable-star forum to the Observing section?

[Stu]

13 hours ago, Pixies said:

Thread necromancy!

@Stu - was there ever a discussion about adding a double-star/variable-star forum to the Observing section?

Not yet. This section is available but probably a bit too hidden in the science section. I may have a chance to discuss it soon so will let you know if it’s possible or not.

https://stargazerslounge.com/forum/52-observing-and-imaging-double-and-variable-stars/