[Lvas] Sirius

[roger ivester]

All,

 

Sirius and Sirius B have a 51 year cycle cycle and at current has a separation of 7 arc seconds. There has never been a period in my observing career that I have had opportunity to observe "Sirius B" or AKA "The Pup". In the late seventies I did not have a scope worthy to see the companion. 

 

It's widest separation of 11.5 arc seconds occurred last in 1975 and again in 2025. 

 

First discovered in January 31th 1862 by Alvan Clark using an 18.5 inch refractor, then the largest refractor in the world. 

 

This scope is still in use today at Northwestern University in Illinois. 

 

Jim Mullaney told me yesterday that Sue French had seen the companion in her 4.1-inch Astro-Physics Traveler Refractor.

 

Jim, said that he has observed it also using an 8-inch SC scope. These are the first reports that I have heard of in "current" times of someone seeing the companion.   

 

I am planning on some very early morning observations in late September and October. I have waited a lifetime to see the companion. I am going to attempt with both my 4-inch refractor and 10-inch reflector. If conditions are not perfect I normally use a 4.25-inch off-axis mask on my reflector. It will reach a separation of 9.0 arc seconds by 2012. I want to see it during a more difficult period...however from my understanding it is never been easy even at its widest point.   

 

This should be an object that anyone living within the city limits of Las Vegas could attempt. This would be quite a story for someone to achieve this feat. 

 

Start thinking about it and doing a little research on techniques and procedures. You would want to draw the companion, showing the cardinal points to insure that you are indeed seeing Sirius B.

 

roger      


 
 

 
    The moon and stars to govern the night.....   Psalm 136:9




_________________________________________________________________
Hotmail® has ever-growing storage! Don’t worry about storage limits.
http://windowslive.com/Tutorial/Hotmail/Storage?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_HM_Tutorial_Storage_062009
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lvlug.org/pipermail/lvas/attachments/20090623/1dc33902/attachment.htm