Taurus double star selection

[DarkerSky]

With an almost full moon on 18 Jan, I decided to turn my attention to some bright-ish (and easily found) doubles in Taurus with my 12".

First up - Alderbaran (Alpha Tauri)

Easy split at 121" separation. The secondary was dim at mag 13.4 in a moonlit sky. PA 034 degrees. At x150 magnifcation Alderbaran took on a yellow-amber hue.

Sketch from 12" x150 magnification. TFOV 0.45 degrees

Next I went for Chi Tauri. This is a fixed pair of magnitudes 5.5 and 7.6. Thought this to be a lovely pairing with a 19.4" separation. PA 024 degrees. The primary was seen to have a light blue colour to it. No colour noted in the secondary, but I have heard that some see it as a deep blue

Sketch from 12" x70 magnification. TFOV 0.98 degrees

My third and final double star destination was Phi Tauri. I thought this one to be the most interesting double of the three that I viewed. The separation was quite large at 52.1". The primary appeared a light yellow / delicate amber colour. No colour was seen in the secondary. However, a short distance away in the same FOV was an 8th magnitude star with a deep orange colour. It made the field really nice to look at, even under severe moonlight.

Sketch from 12" x70 magnification. TFOV 0.98 degrees

[Mikea]

Nice sketches! I must have a crack at Phi Tauri.

[lunator]

Very nice sketches