Category: multiple

M42 Trapezium

M42 Trapezium
Messier 42 Trapezium

Object Name: M 42
Object Type: Nebula
Location: Cittadella (Italy)
Date: February 5, 2010
Media: graphite pencil, white paper, inverted in Gimp
Instrument: 120 mm achromatic refractor (f/8.3)
Eyepiece: Edge On Planetary 5 mm (200x), diagonal and O-III filter
Conditions: Visual magnitude: 4, some light pollution

This is a sketch showing the central part of the Orion Nebula, seen in a 120 mm refractor at 200x. The sky conditions were not ideal for observing the whole extent of the nebula, but the brighter Trapezium area showed several details at this magnification.
Clear skies,
Massimo

Struve 396 in Camelopardalis

Struve 396
Struve 396

Hello! 🙂

Date: 2011-03-25 (evening)
Observer: Viktor Cseh

Object: Struve 396 multiple star (RA.: 03h 33m 32s, Dec.: +58°45’55”)
Components:
A – Magnitude: 6.3 Color: golden and yellow
B – Magnitude: 7.6 Color: golden and yellow Separation (from A): 21″ PA (from A): 244°
C – Magnitude: 10.8 Color: ————————– Separation (from A): 160″ PA (from A): 102°

Wonderful star pair in the Camelopardalis; bright and intensive colors. I recommend to everyone in the northern hemisphere!
My blog: viktorcsehdraws.blogspot.com

Clear skies! 🙂

Viktor

Albireo – the Orange and Blue Star

Albireo
Albireo

Object Type: Triple star system
Location: PÅ‚aza, Poland
Date: 10.08.2011
Media: graphite pencil, white paper, inverted, Photoshop CS2

Albireo is a beautiful, triple star system that consisting of Beta Cygni A – the orange, cool supergiant (in fact this is double star, but they’re too close to see it resolved. The second component is the Beta Cygni B – the Be star.

Seeing Double Twice

Epsilon Lyrae

Epsilon Lyrae, the beautiful double-double star system
Sketch and Details by Janusz Krysiak

Object Name:Epsilon Lyrae
Location:Pyrnik(Poland)
Date:21.06.2009

medium: pencil, white paper
equipment: Newton 300/1500
magnification: 214x

Hi,
These are Epsilon Lyrae. It is probably one of the most beautiful double
sysetm on our sky. It lookes gorgeous in large extention.

Janusz Krysiak

A Swarm within a Swarm

NGC 1502

NGC 1502 and Struve 485
Sketch and Details by Eric Graff

NGC 1502 and STF 485
Open Cluster and Multiple Star in Camelopardalis
Parks Astrolight EQ6 • 6″ f/6 Newtonian Reflector
7.5mm Parks Gold Series Plössl • 120x
Field of View 26′
31 December 2007 • 03:30-04:30 UT

Dangling off the southern end of Kemble’s Cascade, one the sky’s better-known asterisms, you will find the open cluster catalogued as NGC 1502. Easily visible, even at low magnifications, as an unmistakable glittering mass of stars, the cluster is dominated by a brilliant pair of 7th-magnitude snow-white suns separated by 18″ of arc in position angle 305°. These two are the principal members of the multiple star STF 485 (ADS 2984; CCDM 04078+6220).

Increasing the magnification brings better definition and resolution to NGC 1502. A 7.5mm G.S-5 Plössl yielding 120x provided the most pleasing view in my scope, and this was used in the sketch presented here. All of the cluster stars appear to be pure white (or nearly so). The brightest stars in the cluster are concentrated into a narrow east-west band of stars spanning the cluster’s 8′ diameter. Most of these are members of the STF 485 system.

The Catalogue of Components of Double and Multiple Stars (CCDM) lists 16 members for STF 485 with magnitudes ranging from 7 to 14; these are designated (A-P) as indicated on the inset. Components C, E, F, G and M are very challenging due to faintness (mags 11.9-14.1) and proximity to A and B; the remaining members are quite easy by comparison. Component B is also a variable star, designated SZ Camelopardalis. It is a Beta Lyrae-type eclipsing variable with a period of just under 2.7 days and a magnitude range from 7.00 to 7.29. While component A might seem like a convenient comparison star for making magnitude estimates of SZ, it is suspected of being variable as well, with an observed amplitude of about 0.1 magnitude. Components H, I and J are also catalogued separately as STF 484 (ADS 2982); components K and L are catalogued separately as Holmes 3 (ADS 2989).

William Herschel discovered NGC 1502 on November 3, 1787 with his 18.7-inch reflector. It is sometimes called the Golden Harp Cluster; it contains 63 member stars and lies 2,650 light years away in the direction of Camelopardalis. Its age is estimated at 5 million years.

Dark Nebula Nexus

M20

M20 – The Trifid Nebula
Sketch by Kiminori Ikebe

Mr. Ikebe observed and sketched this view of M20 using a 50 cm Dobsonian at 220X.

M20, The Trifid Nebula, is a famous and beautiful target for astrophotographers and visual observers alike. The red emission nebula contains a young star cluster at its center, and is surrounded by a blue reflection nebula that is most noticeable at the northern end. It’s distance is not well agreed upon, and is listed anywhere from 2,200 light years (Mallas/Kreimer) to 9000 light years (Jeff Hester). Its magnitude estimate is also wide, and is listed from 9.0 (Kenneth Glyn Jones) to 6.8 (Machholz). Part of the magnitude difficulty comes from the very bright triple-star system at the heart of the nebula.

The dark nebula that crosses the Trifid was cataloged by Barnard and listed as B 85. The object was originally cataloged by Charles Messier in 1764, when he described it as a cluster of stars.

Binoculars Along the Spine of the Scorpion

Antares, M4, & Rho Oph
Antares, M4, and Rho Ophiuchi
Sketch and details by Michael Rosolina

Scorpius is well placed right now for northern hemisphere observers and holds many beautiful and interesting objects. Scanning the constellation with widefield binoculars can be particularly rewarding. I found that I could see this trio all at the same time with my 15×70 binoculars. They make an interesting combination: Antares, a red giant, Rho Ophiuchus, a bright binocular triple, and Messier 4, a globular cluster containing countless stars.

The sketch was done in the field with 2B and HB pencils and a stump loaded with 4B graphite for M4. I then scanned and inverted the sketch digitally, colorised Antares, and added a little blur (5%).

There are many images of this region–time exposures showing the stars embedded in glowing clouds of gas and dust. None of that can be seen visually, but the binocular view has its own beauty.

Michael Rosolina
Friars Hill, WV USA

Three’s Company

Triple Star

12 Lyncis – Triple Star
By Wade V. Corbei

This is an interesting triple star in the constellation Lynx, and required a good bit of magnification to resolve into 3 seperate stars. In the 27mm, it just looked like an elongated star, and in the 15mm, I could just discern that there was more than one star. When I barlowed the 15mm, I could easily see that this was a multiple star system, but I could not split the two eastern stars.

I plopped in my 6mm and barlowed that and there it was…a nice split of all 3 stars in the same FOV. Wonderful!

I don’t really know what the primary star would be with this trio as all 3 appear to be of the same (or close to the same) magnitude. It does appear as if the two stars on the eastern end are brighter and appear as white with just a hint of a blueish tint. The third star that is well seperated and to the west appeared as having an orange or burnt-brown coloration.

A nice triple star system that can be a challenge, but once found makes for an interesting and neat sight in the ol’ EP.