Recommend me some doubles to get me started

[dannybgoode]

I have been trying to broaden my horizons a bit so I have something to do regardless of moon phase, patchy cloud etc and one thing that has always interested me although I have never given it a go is double stars.  So, with tonight's forecast looking good and the moon being almost full imaging is out it seems a good time to start.

Can anyone recommend me some nice starters?  Anything in the Eastern hemisphere above 25 degree alt and anything high in the Western skies - above 70 degrees alt?  Will be observing from 6pm to 9-10pm so not a huge window I appreciate 

Many thanks all

[Pixies]

Almach (Gamma Andromedae) - Blue/yellow medium split

Iota Cassiopeiae - white/yellow/blue triple, tighter split

Theta Aurigae - double with a much dimmer secondary, harder still

 

Not sure how the above will fare with the moon.

[Spile]

The list of 500 I put together https://astro.catshill.com/top-500-binary-stars/ is going to be too much, so I would filter out the 5* rated ones and work through those. 

[Captain Scarlet]

Off the top of my head…

Meissa the head of Orion is a favourite of mine.

Cor Caroli east of the south end of Ursa Major 

Algieba in Leo

Sigma Orionis a lovely system

Castor in Gemini

… and look up any of @cloudsweeper’s recent reports. A trove of unusual and worthwhile doubles.

Magnus

[SuburbanMak]

All of the above

Beta Monocerotis, below & off to the East of Orion’s Belt  is a cracking triple. 

Alnitak & Mintaka - both the ends of Orion’s Belt are doubles offering different levels of challenge. 
 

Just below the Orion Nebula is Iota Orionis , a beautiful pair and this whole cluster makes a stunning field. 
 

One I looked at for the first time last night was 32 Eridani, low-ish in the sparser area to the W of Orion. Lovely Gold vs Green jewel. 
 

Have fun! 
 

[cloudsweeper]

8 hours ago, Captain Scarlet said:

Off the top of my head…

Meissa the head of Orion is a favourite of mine.

Cor Caroli east of the south end of Ursa Major 

Algieba in Leo

Sigma Orionis a lovely system

Castor in Gemini

… and look up any of @cloudsweeper’s recent reports. A trove of unusual and worthwhile doubles.

Magnus

Thanks Magnus.  Yes, I'm always on the lookout for fresh ones to track down and enjoy!  

Has anyone so far mentioned 9 Ari, the Trapezium (in M42, try to see six stars!), Sigma 848 (Orion, in the 37 Cluster), Sigma 401 (Taurus, a fine double double), Epsilon Lyra (the classic Double Double)?  

Doug.

[dannybgoode]

Many thanks all. Last night was a fail as I couldn’t get my mount aligned as my Telrad was dewed up so couldn’t see the target stars for alignment!

I’ll stick the TMB back on tonight and give it a go. It may only be 650mm however it’ll happily take a 5mm eyepiece and sometimes even a 2.5 if conditions are right so may have a chance with some at least

[Jiggy 67]

If you have SkySafari, it contains an observing list of double stars from the Cambridge Double Star Atlas which I have been working my way through. Contains most if not all the above.

1 hour ago, SuburbanMak said:

Beta Monocerotis, below & off to the East of Orion’s Belt  is a cracking triple.

Out of all of them, Beta Mon has to be my favorite…..stunning triple star!!

[badhex]

I would also heartily recommend "Discovering double stars" by @Ags

I've only really started getting into doubles myself recently so it's great to have a hardcopy designed for use in the field. 

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/381220-book-project-discovering-double-stars/

[Zermelo]

I posted this in response to a similar recent query.

Also see:

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/370671-list-of-double-and-multiple-stars/#comment-4025551

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/79683-useful-double-star-links-websites/#comment-3986116

and don't forget to check out the forum section for observing double and variable stars.