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Monday was a fun night at my observatory. I arrived a few hours before sunset to do some cleaning and add a fire pit. I notice that when I have guests over their interests and mine don't match. I like to learn about faint fuzzies because I am a geek. They like to look at something quick and sensational because it is all new to them. I thought if I added a fire pit and a few soft drinks we could add conversation and split the difference. It worked.
One of my friends came over and talked around the fire until about 10:00. He had an early morning on Tuesday and had to get home. That left me free to do my observing. Fortunately, double stars were on my list for the night. They aren't as affected by a 9-day moon. I only viewed three of them because I wanted to take my time and learn a little about them.
Porrima: separation 1.9"; position angle 10; magnitude 3.5, 3.5; power 280x
Struve 1694: separation 20.9"; position angle 324; magnitude 5.3, 5.7; power 70x
Cor Caroli: separation 19.2"; position angle 228; magnitude 2.9, 5.5; power 70x
All three pairs were interesting. Porrima took a little more power to split. Struve 1694 was most confusing to locate on the charts because it is called by different names and there are a couple of stars that share one of the names. It wasn't even listed on some of my charts. I don't think I could have found it without using the RA, Dec. I grabbed a picture of Cor Caroli and its companion. Of the three pairs viewed I was most impressed by its colors and the differences between the pair.
Attachments
Rob Telescopes: 50mm refractor, ED80 triplet, 90mm makcass, 10" dob, 8"SCT, 11"SCT
Mounts: Celestron CGX, Orion Sirius + several camera tripods
Cameras: Canon 6D, Canon 80D, ZWO-ASI120MC
Binoculars: 10x50, 12x60, 15x70, 25-125x80
Observatory: SkyShed POD XL3 + 8x12 warm room
AL Projects Completed: Lunar #645, Outreach #0280, Universe Sampler #93-T, Binocular Messier #871, Messier #2521, Messier Honorary #2521, Constellation Hunter Northern Skies #112, Planetary Transit Venus #1, Galileo #26, Outreach Stellar 0280, Meteor Regular #157, Solar System Telescopic #209-I, Observer Award #1
AL Projects Currently in Process: Double Stars, Comet, Lunar Evolution
-Michael Refractors: ES AR152 f/6.5 Achromat on Twilight II, Celestron 102mm XLT f/9.8 on Celestron Heavy Duty Alt Az mount, KOWA 90mm spotting scope Binoculars: Celestron SkyMaster 15x70, Bushnell 10x50 Eyepieces: Various, GSO Superview, 9mm Plossl, Celestron 25mm Plossl Camera: ZWO ASI 120 Naked Eye: Two Eyeballs Latitude: 48.7229° N
Bigzmey wrote: ↑Thu Apr 14, 2022 7:42 pm
Nice splits and Cor Caroli capture Rob. Did you use 11" SCT for the visual to?
Yes, I use the C11 most of the time. I have a refractor in the warm room and a dob in the garage, but the C11 is set up at the moment. I've been focusing on the solar system and double stars. It works well for both.
Rob Telescopes: 50mm refractor, ED80 triplet, 90mm makcass, 10" dob, 8"SCT, 11"SCT
Mounts: Celestron CGX, Orion Sirius + several camera tripods
Cameras: Canon 6D, Canon 80D, ZWO-ASI120MC
Binoculars: 10x50, 12x60, 15x70, 25-125x80
Observatory: SkyShed POD XL3 + 8x12 warm room
AL Projects Completed: Lunar #645, Outreach #0280, Universe Sampler #93-T, Binocular Messier #871, Messier #2521, Messier Honorary #2521, Constellation Hunter Northern Skies #112, Planetary Transit Venus #1, Galileo #26, Outreach Stellar 0280, Meteor Regular #157, Solar System Telescopic #209-I, Observer Award #1
AL Projects Currently in Process: Double Stars, Comet, Lunar Evolution
Nice pic. It shows well what you mean, when you talk about the colours and the beauty, And congrats on the VROD!
- Juha
Senior Embedded SW Designer
Telescope: OrionOptics XV12, Mount: CEM120, Tri-pier 360 and alternative dobson mount.
Grab 'n go: Omegon AC 102/660 on AZ-3 mount
Eyepieces: 26 mm Omegon SWAN 70°, 15 mm TV Plössl, 12.5 mm Baader Morpheus, 10 mm TV Delos, 6 mm Baader Classic Ortho, 5 mm TV DeLite, 4 mm and 3 mm TV Radians
Cameras: ZWO ASI 294MM Pro, Omegon veLOX 178C
OAG: TS-Optics TSOAG09, ZWO EFW 7 x 36 mm, ZWO filter sets: LRGB and Ha/OIII/SII
Explore Scientific HR 2" coma corrector, Meade x3 1.25" Barlow, TV PowerMate 4x 2"
Some filters (#80A, ND-96, ND-09, Astronomik UHC)
Laptop: Acer Enduro Urban N3 semi-rugged, Windows 11
LAT 61° 28' 10.9" N, Bortle 5
I don't suffer from insanity. I'm enjoying every minute of it.
Unitron48 wrote: ↑Thu Apr 14, 2022 5:34 pm
Great session and enjoyable report, Rob! I enjoy my solo sessions, but treasure the social times as well. Keep doing what you're doing.
Cor Caroli is one of my favorites; good separation and great color contrast! Thanks for sharing the image!!
Hi Rob. A very fine observing report from your observatory. You spit a trio of nice doubles and your image of Cor Caroli really shows the pair. Thanks for your well written report Rob and congratulations on receiving the TSSVROD Award today.
Marshall
Sky-Watcher 90mm f/13.8 Maksutov-Cassegrain on motorized Multimount
Orion Astroview 120ST f/5 Refractor on EQ3 mount
Celestron Comet Catcher 140mm f/3.64 Schmidt-Newtonian on alt-az mount
Celestron Omni XLT150R f/5 Refractor on CG4 mount with dual axis drives.
Orion 180mm f/15 Maksutov-Cassegrain on CG5-GT Goto mount.
Orion XT12i 12" f/4.9 Dobsonian Intelliscope.
Kamakura 7x35 Binoculars and Celestron SkyMaster 15x70 Binoculars. ZWO ASI 120MC camera.
>)))))*>
