Bigzmey wrote: ↑Fri Nov 27, 2020 11:16 pm Not to discourage you, but Sirius is extremely hard target. I would suggest to gain more experience splitting less challenging doubles.
"A man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a heaven for?"
I was encouraged to try by another poster here who said that it would not be easy but could be done with my 102 and 6mm. The failure the other night was not the end of the world for me. You never know until you try. Doubles are not a compelling pursuit for me, just something new to try.
Right now, I am working my way through
A Student's Guide to the Mathematics of Astronmy by Fleisch and Kregenow. My review of Hirshfield's
Activity Manual is on
TSS here:
https://www.theskysearchers.com/viewtop ... 10&t=13598 In addition to the basic mathematics of astronomy, I read the history, especially how theory developed over time.
It is a cogent criticism going back to Kuhn's
Structure of Scientific Revolutions that we tend to learn the physical sciences as a complete given without understanding how we got to where we are. In Hirshfeld's Parallax is the story of how, 200 years after Galileo, William Herschel finally came to the conclusion that physical binary stars do exist. Proximity is not an accident of viewpoint. So, on that basis, I looked at some binaries. I like going out in the backyard to verify that the universe is pretty much as described in the books. And I like following in the footsteps of the explorers to share what could have been their experience.
I would like to try spectroscopy, but I do not own a camera or a Windows computer. So, I am loath to spend $1000 to image half a dozen stars and say, "That's nice."
I have to confess that much of this is visceral and emotional. After an hour or so with the telescope, I can spend another hour on the porch, just looking up at the stars.
Bortle 6 or not, it just feels good.