| Steve Bodin | ||||
| Star:
Mizar (Struve 1744)
Date & Time: 5 Mar 2003 10 pm to midnight Seeing: 3 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)>. Transparency: good Location of site: Silverdale WA, USA 47N 123W Site classification: suburb-rural Conditions: temp 40F, some wind Sky darkness: 5.7 <Limiting magnitude> Telescope: Celestron C8 Eyepieces: not used Additional: DX-8263SL video camera at prime focus and f2.3 Magnification: app. 333x pf and 80x f2.3 |
A
famous double, usually described as the first double discovered in 1650
by Riccioli, probably using one of those 2 inch by 20 foot single lens
refractors, predecessor to a Telementor? This is the usual field for the
first look at a double by almost everybody; I remember my first sight in
the mid '50's using my Unitron 2.4 and it was memorable at 70x. But this
year it was a C8 and a video camera. Took one image at f2.3 focus which
is similar to low power view in any scope, but integrated x128 to get to
14th mag or so. Many interesting field stars in addition to Alcor and the
Sidus Ludovicianum; especially the line of four 12th to 13th mag
stars following the S.L. and the 20 sec uncataloged pair of 12th
mag stars preceeding Mizar itself. As for Mizar; I never seem to measure
this star at the 'book' value, always wider for some unknown reason. The
5 measures taken over the last 3 years with 2 different scopes and five
different telescope setups yield 14.96 sec
at 152.3 deg PA.
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