Epsilon Bootis 

Philippe Dejocas
Star: Izar (Epsilon Bootis) 
Date & Time: May 01 2001
Seeing: 6.5 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)>. 
Location of site: Ottawa/Hull, Canada 
Site classification: suburban, urban
Sky darkness: 4.2 (UMI) <Limiting magnitude> 
Temperature: 15ºC/9ºC  (beg/end) 
Winds :  ~10, 15Km/h S/SW 
Humidity : ~40% 
Sky : Moon at first quarter and in Leo; 
sky is a nice dark blue with just a trace of haze 
Telescope: Aldebaran 6" f5 Newtonian
Magnification: 120x
Suffered from the seeing which robbed it of its beauty, but did not prevent  complete resolution at 120x.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 


 
Jim Jones
Star: Izar (Epsilon Bootis) 
Date and Time: 05/03/01  0449 UTC 
Seeing: 6-7 <1 worst - 10 best> 
Location of Site: Lake Oswego, Oregon 
Site Classification: Suburban 
Sky Darkness: 4.1 <Limiting Magnitude> 
Moon:  0.773 
Telescope: 8 inch LX50 SCT 
Magnification: 112x, 224x, 285x
Eye Piece(s): 18mm Radian, 2x Ultima, 7mm ortho
Est PA without inst......350º
Fat fuzzy star at 112x.
Fuzzy peanut at 224x.
Clear split at 285x.

 
Stuart
Star: Izar (Epsilon Bootis) 
Date & Time: 3rd May 2001 2230 UT 
Seeing: 5-6 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)>. 
Location of site: Near Halifax, West Yorkshire, England 
Site classification: suburban
Sky darkness: 4.2 (UMi) <Limiting magnitude> 
Temperature: -1C 
Telescope: GX 250 10" Newtonian
Eyepiece: 20 mm Plossl, 9.5 mm Ortho, 
7.5mm Plossl with Barlow . 
Magnification: x60, x126, x160, x252 
Thought I would take a first ever look at this celebrated star knowing that it would, sadly, have to be my last of the session. Unsuprisingly I could not resolve it at x60, but there was some evidence of a dim elongation, I thought. This was not confirmed at x126. Then at x160 the components were obvious but not separated. At x252 a clean, continuous split and I undersood why Struve called this system Pulcherrima. A beautiful sight , the primary deep yellow and the much fainter comes a mauvy blue to me. No sign at all of the greenish colouration referred to in Burnham. For me, one to return to often. Suprised that the secondary shows up so well given the difference in magnitude and the separation. 

 
Rafael Barberá
Star: Izar (Epsilon Bootis) 
Date & Time: 5/5/2001, 21:42
Seeing: 6 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)>. 
Location of site: Manises, Valencia, Spain
Site classification: Urban
Sky darkness: 3.5 (almost full moon) <Limiting magnitude> 
Telescope: TV85 85mm F/7 F.L.: 600mm 
Eyepiece: Eudascopic 5mm 
Magnification: 120x 
I wasn't ready to see this star ;-). At 120x I can see two discs full of 
colour. The brighter one seems yellow-orange with the dimmer one green or 
blue. The contrast was stunning!. I can convinced myself that the stars 
seems "strange" at 48x, but I need 120x to clearly split them. A very good 
example of colour contrast. I was surprised by a Difficult Index of 90.2 for 
this star, it was easy with a 85mm. 

 
Otto Piechowski
Star: Izar (Epsilon Bootis) 
Date & Time: 5/5/01 2 am EDST
Seeing: 8 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)>. 
Location of site: Lexington, Kentucky
Site classification: suburban
Sky darkness: 3 (I could not see Polaris with unaided vision) <Limiting magnitude> 
Other: Hazy, still 
Telescope: 150 mm mak-cass (MK 67 standard)
Eyepiece: 7, 5, 4 mm orthos with 2X barlow 
Magnification: -- 
 

Star: Izar (Epsilon Bootis) 
Date and Time: Monday, May 21, 2001 
10:00 PM EDT 
Seeing: 6 <1 worst - 10 best> 
Location of Site: Lexington, KY, USA
Site Classification: Suburban
Sky Darkness: -- <Limiting Magnitude>
Sky: deep and low in humidity. 
Telescope: 150 maksutov cassegrain 
Magnification: 257X and 360X
Eye Piece(s): 7 and 5 mm orthoscopics 

Separation was visible with all eyepieces and the barlow in all combinations.  The best view was with the 5 mm UO orthoscopic. The double presented itself as a very blue secondary with a yellowish white primary. The secondary seem to fall on what would have been the second diffraction ring. The double did not give as pleasing a view at any higher magnification. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

It is an odd thing.  Not only is zeta more difficult to split, but the stars just seem smaller than the pair of epsilon.  Not just that epsilon is easier to split.  zeta's seem smaller.  Maybe it is just an illusion created by fainter stars since there is less light scatter. 
 


 
Bob Hogeveen
Star:Izar (Epsilon Bootis) 
Date & Time: May 07 2001
Seeing: 6 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)>. 
Location of site: Annen, The Netherlands
(53ºN, 6ºE) 
Site classification: Village backyard
Sky darkness: 3.5 (UMI) <Limiting magnitude> 
Sky : Full Moon in Libra and a slight haze 
Telescope: Meade LX10 (8" f/10 SCT) 
Magnification: 100x, 200x
Harschaw's Scale: 3 <1 to 5> 
This double needs 200x for a good split. With the present sky-conditions it is now and then split at 100x. The colors are nice! A is a deep yellow and B blueish. I am sure this pair gets (and deserves) a better rating with better sky-conditions.
 
 
 
 
 
 

 


 
Cor Berrevoets
Star: Izar (Epsilon Bootis) 
Date & Time: 10-may-2001 20:00 - 21:30 UT
Seeing: ? <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)>. 
Location of site: Ritthem, The Netherlands
51° 27' N, 003° 38' E
Site classification: Suburban
Sky darkness: 4.5 <Limiting magnitude> 
Telescope: Intes Micro 6" F10 Maksutov 
(35% obstruction)
Eyepieces: 7.5, 10, 15, 20 and
26 mm Plössls
Magnification: 100x, 200x
In my 15mm EP (~100x) this double could be barely split, at 7.5mm (200x) 
the primary showed orange/golden colour and the secondary grey-bluish 
colours. The first diffraction-rings seemed to be touching each other. 

 
John M. Ryan
Star: Izar (Epsilon Bootis) 
Date & Time: 11 May 2001 ( 22:30 UT ).
Seeing: 7 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)>. 
Location of site: Barreras, Salamanca, Spain.
Site classification: Rural,Suburban.
Sky darkness: 4 <Limiting magnitude> 
Sky: Moon rising, fairly dry and calm. 
Telescope: Meade 8" SCT
Eyepieces: 20mm plossl, 7mm ortho 
Magnification: 100X and  286X
This first double turned out to be the jewel for the night. There was elongation  at 100X with the 20mm and then a clean split with the 7mm ortho at 286X. The color contrast of this famous double is fantastic. I found the primary to be gold and the secondary blue. Nice contrast of both colors and magnitudes. I rated this as a 1 on the Harshaw scale of 1-5 with 1 the best. 

Ambience: The news reports last week have commented that this has been the wettest and cloudiest weather in Spain in the last 100 years. They went on to say that parts of Spain now resemble Ireland or Scotland with the abundance of grass and flowers. The cattle and sheep ranchers love the weather. Luis has commented last week that it has been about 100 days since he had a chance to get out and do some observing. Most of last week was cloudy and when the weatherman announced that Friday would be about a one day break before the next low pressure system arrived. I decided to get out to the village and do some observing. The temp. was about 10ºC when I started and dropped to about 5ºC. The frogs continue their croaking and about 11:00pm Pascual passed by with his large band of sheep and herding dogs which made a racket for about five minutes. 


 
Tim Leese
Star: Izar (Epsilon Bootis) 
Date & Time: 12 May 2001 ( 21:30 UT )
Seeing: 5-6 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)>. 
Location of site: Cheshire. UK
53° 15' N -2º 33' W
Site classification: Suburban
Sky darkness: ? <Limiting magnitude> 
Conditions: Nice clear night, looking good. 
Telescope: 200mm f/6  Newtonian
mounted over a Vixen GP mount (manual slow motion).
Eyepieces: 9mm, 6mm UO Orthoscopics X2 shorty barlow.
Magnification: X133, X200 X400
Using X133 I could only get elongation for this pair. Increasing the magnification 
to X200 was a difficult split but I could see a very nice pair of cleanly separated 
stars in the pockets of steadier air. 

The primary appeared to be a golden yellow colour with the companion having a bluish hue. 

Using X400 confirmed the separation of the pair and the colour contrast but the view was very poor. X200 gave the best view for this system. 
 


 
William Schart
Star: Izar (Epsilon Bootis) 
Date & Time: May 12, 2001,  9:22-11:08 pm CDT
Seeing: 8 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)>. 
Location of site: Killeen, TX, USA
31ºN, 97ºW
Site classification: Suburban
Sky darkness: 4 <Limiting magnitude> 
Conditions: Nice clear night, looking good. 
Telescope: Celestron 8" SCT
Eyepieces: 25 mm, 17 mm, 12.5 mm (MG)
Magnification: 80X, 117X, 160X
A very bright primary with a much fainter secondary. Only a suspicion of elongation at low power, at mid power I was pretty sure there was a bump on one side, which was confirmed with a split in the MG. SEP 2.4”, did not attempt the PA. 
 
 
 

 


 
Chuck Shinn
Star: Izar (Epsilon Bootis) 
Date and Time: 05/22/01 
UT:  0300-0445 
Seeing: 6 <1 worst - 10 best> 
Location of Site: Northern Texas (USA) 
Site Classification: Suburban
Sky conditions:  Clear with no moon 
Sky Darkness: 4.5 <Limiting Magnitude>
Transparency: 7 out of 10 
Telescope: Questar 3.5 (90mm) Maksutov 
Magnification: Up to 260X
Eye Piece(s): From 24mm to 8 mm with and without barlows
no splits.
Try again tomorrow-First diffraction ring jumping like crazy.
Colors noted:  None noted

 
Ilario Melandri
Star: Izar (Epsilon Bootis) 
Date & Time: 26 May 2001,
19.32 – 21:08 UTC
Seeing: 8 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)>. 
Location of site: S.Romualdo, Ravenna, Italy. Elevation: 0 m
Site classification: rural
Temperature: +19ºC -> +16ºC
Sky darkness: 4 <Limiting magnitude> 
Telescope: 150mm f/15 achromatic refractor
(lens by Romano Zen, Venice)
Eyepieces: Clave Plossl 16 mm
Magnification: 140x
 
 

     

 
Thad Robosson
Star: Izar (Epsilon Bootis) 
Date and Time: 5-29-01, 3:30UT 
Seeing: 7 <1 worst - 10 best> 
Location of Site: Phx, Az, USA 
Site Classification: Suburban
Sky conditions: Clear and nice. Nearly 1rst quarter Moon 
Sky Darkness: 4 <Limiting Magnitude>
Telescope: Meade 90mm ETX 
Magnification: 250x
Eye Piece(s): 2x barlow, 32mm Meade SuperWide, 10 & 15mm Vixen Lanthanums
Started my night with the biggest challenge. Kept bumping up the power until I hit 250x.  I saw a slight nodule on one of the diffraction rings that passes as the comp. at an est PA of 330*.  No colors noted.  Rated a 2 on the HS for the challenge. 

Ambiance: Traffic noise as the masses rushed home to unpack before rushing back to work the next morning.  Dogs weren't interested in what I was doing.  A cool light breeze helped make it very comfortable.  No Gunshots, no emergency vehicles. A quick, quiet outing. 
 


 
PJ Anway
Star: Izar (Epsilon Bootis) 
Date & Time: May 30, 2001  03:00 UT 
Seeing: 7 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)>. 
Location of site: Munising Michigan, USA 
Site classification: Rural 
Sky darkness: 5.6 <Limiting magnitude> 
Sky condition: 1st quarter moon. no clouds 
Temperature: 37°F, 3°C 
Telescope: Zeiss AS 100mm f/10 refractor 
on equatorial mount 
Eyepieces: 40mm plossl, 25mm, 
12mm & 7mm orthoscopics, 2.4X Dankin barlow 
Magnification: 25X, 40X, 83X, 143X, 
200x, 343x 

 

I first tried at 83X, then at 200X but could not detect a split. Using the 
7mm and barlow at 343X the pair split cleanly. What a sight! A gold-yellow 
primary with a slate blue secondary near the first diffraction ring. A very 
lovely double, I was mesmerized by it. Definitely the highlight of the 
night, it was quickly added to my favorites list. 

Historical references: 
W. Herschel "A, reddish; B, blue or faint lilac" "This beautiful 
double-star, on account of the different colours of the stars of which it is 
composed, has the appearance of a planet and it's satellite, both shining 
with innate but different coloured light." 
J. Herschel "A, yellow; B, blue-green" "...certainly one of the most 
difficult double stars to measure correctly" 
FGW Struve "A, decided yellow; B, decided green 
W. Smyth "A, pale orange; B, sea green" 
A. Secchi "A, yellow; B, blue" 
C. Flammarion "A, bright yellow; B, marine blue" 
Olcott says "orange-green", a superb object - test for a 2 inch glass" 
P. Couteau "Try it with a 75mm refractor, or even with one of 61mm."