Rigel split!

[Orange Smartie]

Hello everyone, 

I can't believe how exciting this is: I've just seen a very small, very bright light, millions of miles away and seen that it's right next to a much smaller (or dimmer) light!

I've had such an amazing evening, I have to tell someone - mountains on the moon, the straight wall, an alpine valley, M42, M36/37/38, Rigel B, M41, M35, seeing Castor as a double, Andromeda and very faintly, M81 and M82.

Sorry if this is cross-posted. I'm still buzzing.

Pete

[Neil H]

Well done Pete 

[Captain Scarlet]

It took me ages to split Rigel my first time, and I was equally excited! It’s now one of my habitual go-tos at this season, including tonight! So well done.

Next time you look at M37, look for a somewhat brighter central star than the others in the cluster, can you see its colour? That made M37 for me the first time.

M

[wibblefish]

Congratulations! I have Rigel on the list to try again at splitting it 😎

I was super excited to split Castor last time out and find Andromeda (though it took a few nights!) also in previous sessions. I may have to try some of the targets you have mentioned 🥳

 

 

[Orange Smartie]

8 hours ago, Captain Magenta said:

It took me ages to split Rigel my first time, and I was equally excited! It’s now one of my habitual go-tos at this season, including tonight! So well done.

Next time you look at M37, look for a somewhat brighter central star than the others in the cluster, can you see its colour? That made M37 for me the first time.

M

Thanks for the tip, I will have closer look at M37 next time.

[Orange Smartie]

59 minutes ago, wibblefish said:

Congratulations! I have Rigel on the list to try again at splitting it 😎

 

 

If it helps, it just took a little patience and close watching. The brighter star is so bright and the seeing was very turbulent, such that the main star was sort of boiling away continually. If I let the star drift across the FOV and didn't touch anything,  every so often the atmosphere would be good enough just to see the tiny star lying close to its larger companion....and once I knew what I was  looking at, it was much easier to see again.

Edited January 22, 2021 by Orange Smartie
Typo

[wibblefish]

54 minutes ago, Orange Smartie said:

If it helps, it just took a little patience and close watching. The brighter star is so bright and the seeing was very turbulent, such that the main star was sort of boiling away continually. If I let the star drift across the FOV and didn't touch anything,  every so often the atmosphere would be good enough just to see the tiny star lying close to its larger companion....and once I knew what I was  looking at, it was much easier to see again.

I will give that a go, I was having plenty of high mag shake and some CA with the refractor to which didn't help, have tightened the tripod and got a filter to try next time to