philjay Posted October 5, 2014 Share Posted October 5, 2014 (edited) This is a well known mag 5.2 and 6 double with a separation of 30.5" so its quite a bog standard easy double, nice but so what? Well the pair are shifting through space at quite a whack and were the first star/s to be detected as having proper motion. At the moment its a good time for us to see this for ourselves because they are passing in front of a 10th mag background star.Current gap is 5" and slowly opening. I tried unsuccesfully at Kelling to spot the background star due to atmospherics and lack of apeture, so last night I gave it a bash with the mak 180 and I got it. Moonlight didnt help but at about 200x there it was flashing in and out of view with atmospherics. Averted vision pinned it down nicely. So this time next year I shall do another observation and check the gap which should be will be bigger. Try it for yourself Edited October 5, 2014 by philjay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted October 5, 2014 Share Posted October 5, 2014 Interesting stuff Phil, will have to see this. Is this a rare occurrence, once in a lifetime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philjay Posted October 5, 2014 Author Share Posted October 5, 2014 Yes Mick. I suspect its going to be a long time before we get to see another star occulting another thats visiblecwith amateur equipment Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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