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I arrived at the telescope around 5:00 pm. Started a small fire and set out lawn chairs. Two local farmers stopped by to chat. I think I am becoming one of the local neighbors on that blacktop.
I am still experimenting with nightscape videos with my GoPro and DSLR. My main target for the night was doubles. I try to pick off a few new ones each week. Here is my list for this trip:
Nu Scorpii: I had to wait until it climbed high enough on the horizon. I caught it about 11:50 P CDT. It looked elongated at low power. I thought I might find three stars, but hen I bumped the power up to 280X I saw a brighter blue/whit star and a dimmer companion with a touch of red or gold.
Sigma Corona Borealis: Not overly bright, but easy to split at 70X. Th main star had a blue cast while the companion was appeared to have an orange cast.
16/17 Draconis: Two very bright stars in a field of other stars. it was an easy split at 70X. Unfortunately a cloud bank covered the star before I had a chance to sketch the locations of the other strs in the eyepiece.
Alpha Herculis: This was a clean, easy split with my C11 at 280X. It wasn't such a clean split when I used my dslr at prime focus, as you can see from the picture. The central star is a red giant with a dimmer companion of a different color. It doesn't show well in the image, but the companion star is a double, one yellow giant and one white dwarf. The image I attached was a single frame from a Canon 80D through an 11" SCT at 2800 mm focal length. The exposure was one second and the ISO was 1600.
This is where the clouds forced me to stop. It wasn't my plan, but it worked out okay. Clouds play havoc with observing, but they do make for good nightscape videos.
Alpha Herculis:
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
Splendid reporting on your double star evening Rob. Congratulations on attaining the VROD for the day!
-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
