Sirius B - who's seen it?

[lunator]

I have seen it only once at an SGL star party.. back in 2011( from memory).

Now I have darker clearer skies I hope to have more chance soon.

Cheers

Ian

[wookie1965]

I've seen it once in a 5" Refractor I put Sirius A on the edge of the FOV. 

[Flame Nebula]

2 hours ago, wookie1965 said:

I've seen it once in a 5" Refractor I put Sirius A on the edge of the FOV. 

Hi Wookie, 

What make and model of refractor was it? 

 

[wookie1965]

8 hours ago, Flame Nebula said:

Hi Wookie, 

What make and model of refractor was it? 

 

It was a Meade EMC 127mm which I had put a skywatcher dual focuser on, I should never have sold it really.

[F15Rules]

On 28/02/2024 at 21:49, Geoff Barnes said:

Indeed! 😜

Er..before you get too smug, Geoff..we have the double double up here, easy peasy..

🎶🎶Nah nah nay nah nah!!😜😋😁😂

Dave

[John]

Antares is a nice one to split as well - possibly harder than Sirius, depending where in the word you are observing from.

[F15Rules]

I've seen it with 4 scopes in the past c 9 or 10 years..

-First  (and cleanest view) with "Andromeda" - D&G 5" F15 achromat..subsequently bought by Steve above (@@Saganite). In Bortle 5 skies.

2nd and 3rd scopes were Vixen ED103swt and ED103s F7.7 apo refractors. In Bortle 4 and 5 skies

4th and most recently, Tak FS128 F8.1 apo in Bortle 4 skies.

I'm sure my new Vixen SD115S.F7.7 will show it readily, but even it can't see through the endless 5 mile thick clouds and rain we have had in the month since I bought it!!🙄🤪🤦‍♂️😭😂

Dave

[Stu]

I was thinking about this earlier, and suspect one reason I haven’t seen it is that I really don’t enjoy observing Sirius much of the time; it often seems to be a glittering ball, dancing around, and I find the process of trying to spot a tiny fleck of light nearby quite unrewarding so I don’t put in the time to actually find the Pup. Does that make me a bad person? 😉🤣

[josefk]

7 hours ago, Stu said:

I was thinking about this earlier, and suspect one reason I haven’t seen it is that I really don’t enjoy observing Sirius much of the time; it often seems to be a glittering ball, dancing around, and I find the process of trying to spot a tiny fleck of light nearby quite unrewarding so I don’t put in the time to actually find the Pup. Does that make me a bad person? 😉🤣

Ditto. Take a look at the rainbow and move on. One night last week (might have been the week before) it was steady and white and I had a good long (but unsuccessful) attempt. The Damian Peach pics you linked on the Tegmine thread are illuminating re. Sirius B. 

[Flame Nebula]

8 hours ago, Stu said:

I was thinking about this earlier, and suspect one reason I haven’t seen it is that I really don’t enjoy observing Sirius much of the time; it often seems to be a glittering ball, dancing around, and I find the process of trying to spot a tiny fleck of light nearby quite unrewarding so I don’t put in the time to actually find the Pup. Does that make me a bad person? 😉🤣

Evil! 🤣🤣

[John]

15 hours ago, Stu said:

.... Does that make me a bad person? 😉🤣

Not at all. Probably very sensible.

Most of these very tough observing challenges result in a very marginal glimpse of something exceedingly indistinct. You do sometimes wonder why you bother 🙄

 

[IB20]

I haven’t seen Sirius A for about a month 😭

[Mr Spock]

1 hour ago, IB20 said:

I haven’t seen Sirius A for about a month

Same here. Dreadful cloud 

[lunator]

The frustrating thing about Sirius B is the ease with which Southern Hemisphere observers can split. I remember reading about someone spliting it in a 3" scope back in 2010. They had the luxury of a dark sky in Namibia.

 

[John]

1 minute ago, lunator said:

The frustrating thing about Sirius B is the ease with which Southern Hemisphere observers can split. I remember reading about someone spliting it in a 3" scope back in 2010. They had the luxury of a dark sky in Namibia.

 

Ditto with Antares. 

[Saganite]

On 07/03/2024 at 23:52, Stu said:

I was thinking about this earlier, and suspect one reason I haven’t seen it is that I really don’t enjoy observing Sirius much of the time; it often seems to be a glittering ball, dancing around, and I find the process of trying to spot a tiny fleck of light nearby quite unrewarding so I don’t put in the time to actually find the Pup. Does that make me a bad person? 😉🤣

yep, definitely.....

[Saganite]

But no worse Stu than spending hours in the cold hoping to see a barely visible smudge of grey.  That, my wife cannot understand...😁

[Mr Spock]

Not seen Antares yet. It's just too low here 

[saac]

Is it on Netflix or Amazon Prime?

Jim 

[John]

4 hours ago, Mr Spock said:

Not seen Antares yet. It's just too low here 

When it's at it's best here I get about 30 minutes to observe it as it passes from behind my neighbours house to hiding behind the branches of a large chestnut tree. When I used to use the dob to get a glimpse it was practically horizontal !

 

[Mr Spock]

1 hour ago, John said:

When it's at it's best here I get about 30 minutes to observe it as it passes from behind my neighbours house to hiding behind the branches of a large chestnut tree. When I used to use the dob to get a glimpse it was practically horizontal !

It's below my fence for the 12" and the 4" doesn't have enough 'welly'. In fact, I haven't tried the 4" that low - it may not even get over the fence!

[Mr Spock]

The fence to the left is due south with the scopes in position. So I'm guessing no.

[IB20]

Head scratcher this one, Sirius A and something below but it’s not the correct location for the pup as it’s the wrong side. I don’t think it’s a field star so it’s most likely some artefact from my phone camera.

195x with the 125mm SM and a still frame from afocal iPhone video. 

[Mr Spock]

[John]

1 hour ago, IB20 said:

Head scratcher this one, Sirius A and something below but it’s not the correct location for the pup as it’s the wrong side. I don’t think it’s a field star so it’s most likely some artefact from my phone camera.

195x with the 125mm SM and a still frame from afocal iPhone video. 

What is the NSEW orientation of the image ?

The chart that @Mr Spock has posted above shows where it is - NE of Sirius A.

More often than not the Pup is shining through the halo of light surrounding Sirius A.