At The Double

Hi there.

Took a step into the Unicorn last night and came out with the following doubles.

8 Monoceros: A very nice yellow blue combination, easily split at lower magnifications showing up best at 63X.
STF 914: I think that the companion, depite being 10th mag., is the real star of this pair, the primary is a nice yellow, but the companion is a dull red, like a glowing ember and offers and a beautiful contrast.
STF 910: A pair of unequal yellow suns with a wide separation. I noticed an asterism to the south that looked like the lower body of Scorpius and the stinger, with a little imagination including STF 910 might make the entire scorpion.
STF 911: This is a very pretty double, both stars are orange in colour, of equal magnitude and a comfortable separation. Well worth a visit.
STF 915: Two white stars, quite close together at 5.6, the primary is a magnitude brighter at mag. 8.
11 Monoceros: A triple system in a sparse field, the primary pair lie with a separation of 7, the third member a little further away at 10.
STF 926: A comfortable pair at 63X, a yellow primary is accompanied by a white friend.
15 Monoceros: A tight pair of unequal white stars, the primary is mag. 5 with the secondary 3 magnitudes fainter. All the stars in the FOV at 103X appear to be in a north-south line.
RST 4820: Another beautiful deep red star with a cool white companion, real fire and ice. Neither star is brilliant, the primary is mag. 7.5, the companion 11, the separation is 6 and easy at 103X.
STF 953: A pair of equal mag. stars, yellow and white with an easy separation of 7. In the FOV it looked like the pair were sitting in a void in space, there were clusters of stars to the north-east and the south-west, yet around the pair there were only a small number, and they were faint.
STF 3118 & ADS 5235: Both of these pairs sit in the open cluster NGC 2264, all four are of 9th mag., being in a star cluster they are all white. Without the aid of a catalogue I would not have been able to pick them out. I used the charts to work out PA and separation to pin them down. A pretty little cluster.
A 58: A yellow white combo, at separation at 4.5 I saw them best at 103X, the primary is 7.5, the companion 1 mag. fainter.
STF 986: Two white stars of equal magnitude sitting close together.
STF 1030: Another red primary with white companion, at 63X they were easily split, indeed I could split them at 48X, they are 8th and 9th mag. in a busy field with a squashed Delphinus to the south.
STF 1132: Another beautiful red pair that looks like a pair of demon eyes staring back at me. This 8th mag. pair are easy at 63X. Again most of the stars in the FOV appear to be in a line.
ADS 6157: A pair of white 8th mag. stars with a wide separation of 20.

One of the great advantages of double star observing is that the moon is not too much of a factor, in the very tightest separations or faint stars perhaps, but for the vast majority of doubles it doesn't interfere.

Again tonight I was rewarded with some wonderful contrasts in colours, the red and white of RST 4820 was memorable, the yellow and blue of 8 Monoceros, add to this the pairs of orange, red and white stars and it's easy to see the appeal of this branch of astronomy.

Here's some close ups of tonights doubles.

STF 1132


STF 911


RST 4820

Another excellent report Paul. Monoceros is one of my favourite constellations, but almost impossible to observe from the city. Nearly gone now for this year unfortunately.

Thanks Stevie, the funny thing is that I only got to observe, Orion, Lepus and Monoceros this winter, for some reason Taurus, Canis Major, Canis Minor, Gemini and Auriga have passed me by. Of course there's still stime for Gemini and Auriga, but with the spring constellations on the rise they are sure to grab my attention.

Still, at least there's plenty to look forward to next winter.

I really only got once chance all winter to observe Monoceros, at the last EAAS observing session at Killylane in February. We spent most of the time on the Rosette and arguing about how to pronounce Monocerotis. Very constructive. :roll: Have you had a go at splitting Porrima yet? EPK, Neil and I have had a few half-hearted attempts, but nothing definite so far.

I haven't attempted Porrima yet, I managed to split it with a 10" dob some years back, but with the 5" refractor I'm not sure it will be possible, the pair are getting closer and it will most likely be below my scopes ability.

I'll give it a try of course.