54 Leonis

Hi, double star lovers. Seeing that Ronnie O'Sullivan finished winning the snooker last night nice and early, a clear sky beckoned me out with my 6.2" apochromatic refractor into the backyard. I observed 8 objects in all and here is the list.
1. Regulus (Alpha Leonis): optical double at 40X.
2. Algieba (Gamma Leonis): gorgeous double at 112X.
3. Denebola (Beta Leonis): optical quadruple at 40X.
4. 54 Leonis: double at 40X. (I'll come to it in a moment).
5. Zosma (Delta Leonis): optical double at 40X.
6. Izar: Epsilon Bootis: brilliant double split at 167X.
7. Cor Caroli (Alpha Canum): split at 11X in guidescope and 40X in main scope.
8. M3 Globular Cluster in Canes Venatici. Observed at magnifications 11X, 40X, 112X, 140X, 167X and 225X. Plenty of stars resolved at higher powers. The Sky at Night May magazine encouraged me to observe M3.

Now getting back to 54 Leonis: Pat (Plough C) challenged me to see if I can see any colours with this double star. As you probably know, Pat, apochromatic refractors kill virtually all known false colours. Component A is mag +4.5, and B is 6.3. Separation is 6.6". I did try to see any colouring, but unfortunately I could see none -both are white to me. I did go up to 112X and this was what I and Valerie saw.
Both are in the A spectral class. And I completely concur with this analysis. I saw no yellow, orange, blue or red tints.

Thank you all for reading.

Aubrey.

Looking through my own observations I observed 54 Leonis back in 2008 using a 12" dob, and I concur with you Aubrey, to me they were both white, there was no indication of any colour.

Paul

Aubrey, thanks for looking at 54 leonis I found when I first looked at it
with the Zeiss AS 80/1200 I saw a lovely yellow and blue pair then a few nights
later I was amazed when looking at it with a 150mm reflector to see them as
a white pair, this was using the same eyepieces in both scopes. The Zeiss AS
is supposed to be semi-apo so I would not have thought there should have been
as big a difference in the two scopes.

Pat.

PS I liked the view in the refractor better.

Hi Lads,

Sissy Haas describes 54 Leo as follows: "Showcase pair. 60mm: A bright easy pair with lovely contrast - a bright banana-yellow star and a smaller sapphire blue, split by hairs at 45x."

However, like you I did not see those colours. In April 2012, using a 200mm Newtonian I recorded "Very nice double, with a hint of blue in the secondary." In April of this year, observing with a 280mm SCT, I noted "Brilliant pure white primary, with a fainter, but still bright, bluish secondary. Attractively close using 117x. Very nice." On both occasions I thought there was a suggestion of blue in the secondary, but maybe I was kidding myself - must have another look.

Cheers, Mike.

Good afternoon, everyone. Perhaps it is when 54 Leonis is low in the east, it has different colours. When I observed it on Monday night, it was high in the south to southwest.

Aubrey.

There are nice sketches of 54 Leo in the excellent site of Michael Vlasov.

www.deepskywatch.com/Astrosketches/54-leo-sketch.html

Cheers, Mike.