In The Balance

Hi there

With Libra high in the south it was an obvious destination to hunt for doubles.

Alpha Librae: A white gold combo with a massive separation, even a magnification of 27X easily split the pair, I split them the other evening with 10X50 binos.
Mu Librae: Whereas Alpha's sep. was huge, Mu's is small, 1.8 and required a magnification of 126X to split, even then it was tough due to the southerly locale and the atmospheric murk. Both are white and 5.5 and 6.5 magnitude.
ADS 9446: What a beautiful pair, a glorious red primary with a delicious blue companion, a wide separation means this pair is visible in all scopes and well worth a visit.
BU 225: A white pair of 6th mag. stars with a sep. of 35, making the split easy.
HJ 4679: A yellow and white combination of 8th and 9th mag. stars, easily split at 63X
HJ 2757: Same colours and similar magnitudes and separation as HJ 4679.
18 Librae: Another lovely contrast in colours, the primary is a classic orange sun with a fiery red companion. 3 magntidues separate the primary from the companion, a wide sep. of 19 amkes it easily split.
STF 1899: Orange and white this time, at 63X the separation of 28 was easily seen. Another orange sun dwelt in the lower south-eastern section of the field of view.
Iota Librae: A white pair with vastily different magntiude stars, 4.5 and 9.5 respectively. The split is possible again due to a massive sep. of 58, if the sep. were in single digits I doubt if it would be possible with my equipment.
SAO 159121: Another yellow-white pair of 6th and 9th mag. stars in a busy field.
SAO 183565: An equal white pair of 7th mag. stars, an easy split at 63X.
STF 1939: Yellow and white again, I had to use 103X to split the 8th and 9th mag. pair. With a sep. of 9 I believed that I could achieve the split at 63X, but they wouldn't separate, I'm putting this down to the thick atmosphere I'm seeing through.
SAO 159317: A white pair sitting in a busy field of stars, 63X separated them with ease, magnitudes are 6 and 9 with a sep. of 10.
STF 1962: Yellow and white equal pair of 6.5 mag. stars. This pair sit in a very full field of stars, this pair are at a greater elevation of -8.47, a lot of doubles are observed at elevations below -20 thus more fainter stars are blocked.
STF 3096: A tight pair of 9th magntiude yellows suns, I used 103X to split, (barely), the pair with a sep. of 3.8. Again a much higher elevation of -05.19 helped greatly, at HJ 2757's elevation of -22.23 this split would not have been possible.
STF 3097: Snap, a twin with STF 3096, same magnitude stars, same colours and same separation, same magnification required, the only difference was the PA.

With constellations like Libra and Scorpius it is important to observe them at the first opportunity, they skirt the southern horizon and before you know it they are gone for another year. I'm lucky to have a decent southern vista, there is one streetlight in that direction and some trees, but Antares gets to a decent height and I got a nice view of M4 and M80 last night.

The next clear night Scorpius will be in the firing line, after that I'll try for Sagittarius.