Salt Lake City, USA
Beta Monocerotis
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Doubles
to celebrate the Winter Olympics 2002
Salt Lake City, USA Beta Monocerotis |
| Steve Bodin | ||||
| Star:
Beta Monocerotis
Date & Time: 10 Feb 2002, 8:30 to 10:30pm local Seeing: 2 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)> Location of site: Silverdale, WA ,USA 47ºN, 123ºW Site classification: deep burbs Sky darkness: 6.0 <Limiting magnitude> Temperature: ~ 39ºF Other: some wind, but no clouds Telescope: Celestron 8 SC Eyepieces: 24 koenig, 19 Televue widefield, 12 ortho Magnification: 80x, 105x,160x,PC23 video camera
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Cataloged as STF 919. The
poor seeing caused the close secondary to appear as a long smear, not resolved
at all. All colors appear blue-white. Measurements: AB 7.9sec, PA 130 deg,
BC (almost a guess) 2.4 sec, 110 deg.
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| Eddy O'connor | ||||
| Star:
Beta Monocerotis
Date & Time: Sunday February 10th. 9-10.30 p.m.local; UT +10 Seeing: 6 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)> Transparency: 8 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)> Location of site: Terara, New South Wales, Australia 150º.38 E, 34º 52 S Site classification: Sky darkness: <Limiting magnitude> Temperature: 17ºC Other: Moderate humidity, light breeze. No Moon. No snow expected! Telescope: 8" Newt. F9 Eyepieces: 25mm K, 20mm K, 12.5 mm Ortho. Magnification: 73x, 91x, 146x |
Well, well! This is a classic
star, selected with discernment by PJ Anway, himself a veteran performer,
who supports a fine observatory bristling with modern equipment, and supporting
an antique library of Ancient Arts and Sciences, perched on the side of
a remote cliff in one of Nature's Playgrounds in the U.S.
Comments: This classic triple
of Light Blue stars is one to visit when the passion for doubles begins
to flag. It is best seen in my machine at X144, when the closer pair is
well split. The wider mag. 5.2 star looks slightly pinkish to me in contrast
to other close pair. HS-1.
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| Tom Teague | ||||
| Star:
Beta Monocerotis
Date & Time: 2002 February 12 (22:25) Seeing: 3 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)> Location of site: Chester, England 53°11'08"N; 02°51'39"W Site classification: Suburban Sky darkness: 4 <Limiting magnitude> Telescope: 63/840 (2½ inch) Zeiss refractor Magnification: x53, x84, x140
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Found by my new 'mental arithmetic' technique at the first attempt, although the pair lay only just inside the field x53. Another Herschel discovery, described by him as "one of the most beautiful sights in the heavens". The main (wider) pair is easy at all powers, but the closer pair - usually very easy in this telescope - proved surprisingly difficult in the bad seeing. Most of the time it appeared as two overlapping, somewhat enlarged and fuzzy blobs, forming a flattened figure of eight. The stars parted momentarily from time to time when I examined them x140. A rather disappointing view of a normally stunning object. No colours seen. | |||
| William Schart | ||||
| Star:
Beta Monocerotis
Date & Time: 2/11/02, from 9:00 to 9:45 pm CST Seeing: 6 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)> Location of site: Killeen, TX, USA. Site classification: Suburban Sky darkness: --- <Limiting magnitude> Temperature: ~ 65F Other: some wind, but no clouds Telescope: Celestar 8" SCT Magnification:
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First up was a pair that,
when abrieviated, breathes a Carribbean air: beta Mon. Shades of the Jamaican
bobsled team? If so, they snuck in a ringer here, or were one short: this
system is a triple. The wider space 2 of this triple system was easily
split at any power, with the close partners appearing as an elongation
at low power. At mid power, this
elongation was even more pronounced, perhaps even notched, and the split was acheived at high power. They all appeared blue to me. The wide pair I measured at 7”, PA 131.2 (ave. 5 meas.) The closer 2 I measured at 3”, but did not attempt the PA.
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| Stuart Clough | ||||
| Star:
Beta Monocerotis
Date & Time: 17/02/2220 - 22:20-23:15 UT Seeing: 4 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)> Location of site: Near Halifax West Yorkshire, England. Site classification: Suburban Sky darkness: 4.0 (U Mi) <Limiting magnitude> Temperature: 2ºC - not ideal on the slopes Other: 2/8 - 5/8 cloud, clearing after showers. Wind - W'ly 5 - 10kts. Telescope: Orion Optics UK GX250 10" f4.8 Newtonian Mount: Vixen GP Eyepieces: 25mmOrtho, 20 mm Plossl, 12.5mm Plossl 9mm Ortho 7mm Plossl. Ultima x2 Barlow Magnification: x48, x60, x96, x133, x120,x160 x192 x267 x320 |
One which never disappoints.
I was able to find beta directly with the Telrad.
At x60 there were just two very pale blue components in the field, blazing away in a comparatively dim field. Increasing the power to x133 allowed an appreciation of the real beauty of this classic object. Three similarly coloured stars in a curving line with the brightest in the north-west. The first impression at this power was that all were white but examination left me in no doubt that the blue tint seen at lower power was certainly there. Adding the Barlow was not
helpful. The seeing ensured that at x267 the image was Degrading
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| Tim Leese | ||||
| Sar:
Beta Monocerotis
Date & Time: 20-February-2002 ( 23:20 UT ) Seeing: 5-6 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)> Location of site: Northwich, Cheshire. UK. (53° 15' N -2º 33' W). Site classification: Suburban Sky darkness: 3 ( UMi ) <Limiting magnitude> Conditions: Cold breeze, clear sky, Moon a slight problem. Telescope: 80mm f/5 rich field refractor. Mount: EQ5 Eyepieces: 5mm Lanthanum. X2 shorty Barlow. Magnification: X80, X160 |
Beta Mon has always been
a favourite of mine using my reflector and I hadn't observed it using the
rich field refractor.
At first, using a magnification of X80 I could definitely see two stars separated. I needed to view for quite a few minutes until I could decide that 3 stars were visible. In odd moments, the seeing allowed me to split the closest two. Even though difficult, X80 gave the best view with a tiny slither of dark sky separating the closest pair. At this magnification, the stars all appeared a white colour. Increasing the magnification to X160 gave a more unsteady view but I could confirm the earlier split using X80 at without a problem. At X160 the stars seemed to have a bluish tint. I always enjoy observing this well known triple star. Thanks Patrick for the challenge. |
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