On 29/05/06, the sky was eventually clear when I returned home late at night . Glimpsing antares in the heart of scorpios, I found that it was not blinking very frequently, a sign of good seeing and a happiness for observers. I set up my "tools" downstairs besides Clementi secondary school, here the observation goes:
equipment: TMB115 + TV everbrite diagonal + 2.5X barlow + Denk I binoviewer + pair of UO 12.5 Orthoscopic ep
Magnification: 161
Pickering seeing scale: 7~8 (http://www.damianpeach.com/pickering.htm)
Time: 11pm
As was told in the literature, splitting antares needs good seeing, good optics and patience since the pair is tight (< 3 arc seconds) and have a markedly discrepancy in brightness.
However to my surprise, I resolved it at my first glance. The secondary star lies right at the first diffraction ring of the main star; During moments of better seeing, I could see the dark gap between the duo, the dimmer secondary also reveals a touch of green tint, which is really amazing. The following is a conceptual drawing of what I saw in the eyepiece.
Antares on 29/05/2006
Antares on 29/05/2006
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
10" Telekit with Zambuto optics~TMB 152/1200 (construction)~Takashi Mewlon 210~TMB 80/600
-
weixing
- Super Moderator
- Posts: 4708
- Joined: Wed Oct 01, 2003 12:22 am
- Favourite scope: Vixen R200SS & Celestron 6" F5 Achro Refractor
- Location: (Tampines) Earth of Solar System in Orion Arm of Milky Way Galaxy in Local Group Galaxies Cluster
Hi,
Anyway, you can start from some easy double stars such as Alpha Centauri, Beta Scorpii, Alpha Herculis, Epsilon Lyrae & etc...
Happy observing and have a nice day.
IMHO, to see Antares "brother", you need a very steady sky and good luck (a lots of them).... I'm still hoping my luck will improve...I didn't know Antares is a double star, cos I was looking for one facing the south. I was hoping to catch a glimps of what a doble star looks like. Is it possible to see it from my Orion 127MAK? My mag is only 65X, 100X and 200X.
Anyway, you can start from some easy double stars such as Alpha Centauri, Beta Scorpii, Alpha Herculis, Epsilon Lyrae & etc...
Happy observing and have a nice day.
Yang Weixing
"The universe is composed mainly of hydrogen and ignorance."
"The universe is composed mainly of hydrogen and ignorance." -
neoterryjoe
- Posts: 289
- Joined: Sun Nov 14, 2004 12:15 pm
- Favourite scope: c5
- Location: je ( 1.34, 103.73 )
For you information. This is a parallel observation done by my colleague in northern China.
"我用tsa102在视宁度接近5的夜晚分解了心宿二，用双眼无法分解，mono6＋tv 2×在266倍分解，用mono4在200倍也无法分解。伴星颜色接近主星,我这里地平高度较低，心宿二和伴星颜色不真实，主星颜色黄多红少。在散乱、破碎而动荡的第一级衍射环的边缘看见这个围绕一个平衡点为中心跳跃的伴星，观察良久终于确定是伴星无疑。在这样的视宁度下，如果我不知道有这颗伴星，肯定难以坚持下来找到并确认。"
He resolved antares with Tak TSA102 at a night of pickering seeing scale 5. However, he failed with binoviewer. It was at 266X with a 6mm monocentric and TV barlow that the scope splitted the tight pair. Using a 4 mm monocentric at 200 X still could not make it out....
I think 4 inch aperture is enough though we do need good contrast optics and stable air.
"我用tsa102在视宁度接近5的夜晚分解了心宿二，用双眼无法分解，mono6＋tv 2×在266倍分解，用mono4在200倍也无法分解。伴星颜色接近主星,我这里地平高度较低，心宿二和伴星颜色不真实，主星颜色黄多红少。在散乱、破碎而动荡的第一级衍射环的边缘看见这个围绕一个平衡点为中心跳跃的伴星，观察良久终于确定是伴星无疑。在这样的视宁度下，如果我不知道有这颗伴星，肯定难以坚持下来找到并确认。"
He resolved antares with Tak TSA102 at a night of pickering seeing scale 5. However, he failed with binoviewer. It was at 266X with a 6mm monocentric and TV barlow that the scope splitted the tight pair. Using a 4 mm monocentric at 200 X still could not make it out....
I think 4 inch aperture is enough though we do need good contrast optics and stable air.
10" Telekit with Zambuto optics~TMB 152/1200 (construction)~Takashi Mewlon 210~TMB 80/600
