Double Stars

I've always been a bit uncomfortable with calling double stars 'deep-sky' objects. You're not looking too deep to observe Polaris, Albireo or even Sirius as doubles! That's besides the point though.
I've checked out a few doubles while observing some real deep-sky objects, and despite thinking to myself originally that seeing two stars close to each other would be a bit boring, I've really started to admire them.
Is there a catalogue of double stars comparable to the Messier List? Or even a double star marathon! Or are double star observers just like train spotters who get excited about seeing a new paint job on an old model! :lol:

Correct me if I'm wrong but my understanding is that everything that is outside our solar system is a deepsky object. Double stars are no neare or farther away than open clusters, planetary nebulae, supernova remnants ..........

I have never really been all that interested by double stars, to me they are just two dots of light a little closer together than the other dots of light! Having said that thehre is one double star that I do like, Alberio in Cygnus, mainly because of the stricking contrast in colour between the two stars in the system. One is a beautiful yellow and the other a vivid blue, it is also easy to split in even the smallest of telescopes.

As for catalogues or marathons I have no idea.

Bart B.

hi Shane/Bart,

I guess anything not in the Solar System is going to get lumped into the Deep Sky category of objects for the observer. Still, does that mean when we get to see Oort cloud comets are they Deep Sky?

anyway, here goes on a few places with double star lists ...

the Astronomical League has a number of certificates for different categories of objects -- www.astroleague.org/al/obsclubs/dblstar/dblstar1.html

a more detailed site on the topic is --
www.edu-observatory.org/eo/double_stars.html

and finally, a site I came across before but just had to look up again in Google is the very informative C33 project --
www.carbonar.es/s33/menu2.html

I've used my 20x60mm binocs to track down dozens ... there's a lovely smattering of doubles in Cygnus (including the famous 61 Cyg which is a nice pair of equal magnitude stars) and people are surprised to learn that three of the four stars in the "parallelogram" of Lyra are binocular doubles with one, Delta, being part of a loose open cluster called Stephenson 1.

anyway, back to doing a bit more before quittin' time!

John
South Dub Astro Soc.

Correct me if I'm wrong but my understanding is that everything that is outside our solar system is a deepsky object. Double stars are no neare or farther away than open clusters, planetary nebulae, supernova remnants ......

Double stars are a hell of a lot closer than galaxies though. "Deep-sky" has a huge catchment area, doesn't it?
Your point about doubles being just two dots of light is just how I felt about it though, until I really started looking at them. Take Ras Algethi, Alpha Herculi(orium or whatever!), it's secondary component is the closest thing to a green star that I've seen. Check it out, see what you think. Or how about Gamma Orionis, a QUADRUPLE star system!
Maybe we should have observing sections, like the sections on the Astronomical League site John mentioned, for people who specialise in certain deep-sky objects.
Thanks for the sites btw John.

Shane

PS - Y'know Albireo isn't actually a 'real' double star, it's just line-of-sight. Isn't that awful, kind of like no Santa Claus according to David Levy!