Why does Sirius sparkle with different colours?

[ollypenrice]

On 23/02/2018 at 17:25, timwetherell said:

Yes Sirius B is a very challenging target in the UK with Sirius so low in the sky! I finally managed it visually a couple of nights ago with my 7" refractor but I've tried many times before to no avail. It all comes down to seeing. In moments of very steady air it's right there and relatively obvious but most of the time it's lost in a sea of scattered and dispersed light from Sirius. For some reason the atmospheric dispersion and turbulence tend to smear the light into a flame or fan shape like a peacock tail, which would be very pretty if it's wasn't masking what you were looking at!

Only just seen this post. Brilliant artwork and far more evocative than photos on this subject.

Olly

[JOC]

When my son and I first found Sirius we used to call the Monster Raving Party Star because it was a akin to a disco ball in the sky.  For a really surreal light show from it just get it slightly off focus and enjoy the show!

[chiltonstar]

Sirius B - The Pup - is extremely difficult on most nights, but easy enough on a very few others IMO! 

For example, with a 127 Mak on an evening where it was visible for a hour and could easily be imaged:-

Chris

 

[Stu]

4 hours ago, chiltonstar said:

Sirius B - The Pup - is extremely difficult on most nights, but easy enough on a very few others IMO! 

For example, with a 127 Mak on an evening where it was visible for a hour and could easily be imaged:-

Chris

 

That is very impressive Chris!