Jump to content

Banner.jpg.b89429c566825f6ab32bcafbada449c9.jpg

Handful of Doubles


Recommended Posts

Finally, a clear night! Got outside just after 9, but only managed about a couple of hours before the cold drove me back into the house. Tried and failed to find comet lulin but wandered into the beehive cluster in the process, a lovely sight. Gave up on comet hunting and went after a few doubles:

Beta Monocerotis - Could clearly see the two main stars with the third one popping in and out. A very nice diagonal line of stars of decreasing size was how it appeared and I definitely will be going back for another look at this one.

Iota Cas - This one hurt my eyes trying to see all 3 components. Could clearly see A and C, but B only briefly jumped out at me.

Eta Persei - Nice double, easily split.

Struve 331 - A very nice sight this one. I don't know why but some doubles make me go 'wow' and this is one of those.

Zeta Orionis - I actually laughed out loud at this as the little snowman did a dance for me!! Looked like he was bobbing up and down with his head coming off. Great stuff.

I used my 25mm (48x) and a 2x barlow for these BTW. One thing i did notice is that I am not seeing any colours. Any tips on this?

Cheers

Andy

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Andy

Good report.

Regarding star colours, they are very subtle and they will become apparent as you observe.

Have a look at iota Cancri as has a relatively strong colour contrast of blue & yellow.

Cheers

Ian

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Talking about colours what colours was Iota Cas.

I see it as yellow annd blue.

Just in case you didn't know Iota Cass A is a binary as well so there is actually 4 components in the system. But it is only 0.11" so you won't see it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Doc

I've always seen Iota Cas as white. No obvious colour to any of the components.

Iots Cancri is yellow/blue combination.

Cheers

Ian

Ermmmmm you got me thinking let me check me notes. My words were of the top of my head...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Doc

Thanks for the info.

I will have a look at iota cass in the ST120. The observations were made with a Newt and an orthoscopic eyepiece.

I am wondering if this triple is the type of star that varies it observed colour depending on the scope/eyepiece combination.

Cheers

Ian

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ian I have noticed this lots.

Some other persons notes say blue I see white. They say red I see yellow.

It's happened alot.

I have never done a, maybe wrong word but scientific study as why some scope/eyepieces see different colours but I think it does happen.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What about the observer's colour vision?

I'm classic red/green colour blind and as far as I know my wife's colour vision is normal. When I showed her Albireo, she did not see the yellow/blue pair that I saw - I forget how she described them but not as yellow/blue.

It made me wonder whether my inability to see red very well is compensated by an over-sensitivity to colours toward the other end of the spectrum.

Mike

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There is no doubt that the particular scope used can affect the colour seen. I have seen the secondary in Cor Caroli as three different colours, all on the one night, all within about five minutes. Very confusing, although one of those may have been due to chromatic abberation. But, my C6 always shows this star as white, and my mate's 4" TMB shows it as slightly lilac.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Interesting thread. :) So this means we can't use historic color reports as guidelines (or did the observers vary the instruments used?).

The biggest difference I've noticed with my scopes/binos is the color of Mintaka's secondary. It appears white through everything except the 22x100s.. through them, it's the most delicate shade of indigo I've ever seen.

There was another color I saw once, which still baffles me. I'd been using the 8" SCT on 3 Jan 2003 and a star in the center of NGC 2353 (pretty sure it was HR 2739) was a breathtakingly beautiful shade of green.. just like the Emerald City, no kidding. I've returned to it over and over again throughout the years but it's always white... must have been something in the atmosphere that night.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The chromatic abberation I was talking about earlier? I saw Cor Caroli's secondary as green in my Tal 4" refractor. Only once mind you, so that's why I discount that particular observation. Never forgotten it though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
Andy

Have a look at iota Cancri as has a relatively strong colour contrast of blue & yellow.

Ian,

I have just come in from looking at Iota Cancri and to me it looked white and blue. Nice easy double at 48x. I also looked at:

Zeta Cancri - Nice pair, both of which looked white to me (needed the Barlow to split it). Both of these are meant to be yellow but I just didn't see it.

Phi Cancri - Again needed the Barlow to split this double. A nice one this, both of which appeared to be white.

I seem to be having trouble seeing yellow :)

On a positive note, I'm definitely getting better at finding things which is nice.

Cheers

andy

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.