Rho Oph
Eddy O'connor
Star: Rho Oph
Date & Time: Monday, July 1st, 2002
10p.m - 11p.m. local; UT +9
Seeing: 7 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)>
Transparency: 8 <1-10, 10 best>
Location of site: Terara, New South Wales, Australia
150º.38, S 34º.52
Site classification: Suburban
Sky darkness:  <Limiting magnitude>
Moon: No Moon.
Temp. 8ºC
Telescope: 16" Newt. F5.1
Eyepieces:  10mm Plossl,18mm Ultima 
Celestron, 32 mm Teleview Plossl 
Magnification: 
   		 This star is so close to Scorpio that it is easily overlooked. Easily spotted as it forms one of the stars of a pentagon formed by Antares, Sigma Sco,Omicon Sco,and 22 Sco. 

Comments: At low power the primary is Blue. The companion is Reddish 
while a wider star is White and it has a wide companion. The field is 
misty and this makes a great small telescope object.  HS2.
 
 
 

 

 
John M. Ryan
Star: Rho Oph
Date & Time: Tuesday July 2, 2002
10:00UTC
Seeing: 6-7 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)>
Transparency:  <1-10, 10 best>
Location of site: Barreras, Salamanca, Spain.
Site classification: Rural, Suburban
Sky darkness: 4+  <Limiting magnitude>
Conditions: No moon , clear, medium wind with temp. about 12º C. Haze making transparency marginal
Telescope: Meade 7" Mak-Cas mounted on 
a Losmandy GM8
Eyepieces: 20mm plossel, 13mm plossel,10mm
and 6.4 plossels
Magnification: 134X, 203X, 264X and 413X
Harshaw Scale: 2 <1-5; 1 best> 
    		 This is a triple and was easy to split with the 20mm at 134X. The components are on the bright side and the three components form almost a straight line. There is another star at right angle to the primary but at a separation of slightly more than the tertiary at 151 arcsecs. You could ask yourself why isn't this a quadruple. The wide ones may be part of the system or could just be optical neighbors. All components white, rating 2
 
 
 

 

 
William L. Schart
Star: Rho Oph
Date & Time: July 3-4, 2002,
11:30 pm CDT to 1230 PM CDT
Seeing: 7 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)>
Transparency:  <1-10, 10 best>
Location of site: Killeen, TX, USA
Site classification: Suburban
Sky darkness: 3.5 <Limiting magnitude>
Telescope: Celestar 8" SCT
Eyepieces: 25mm, 17mm, 10mm eyepieces
Magnification: 		 This system is part of a triangular asterism, with the AB pair as the vertex. I could almost split AB at low power, higher powers made this a clean split. I measured the AB separation at 5" and the PA at 341.6. AC i measured at 300.2" in PA 0.4.
 
 

 

 
Steve Bodin
Star: Rho Oph
Date & Time: 8 July 2002,
11pm to 1 am local
Seeing: 5-6 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)>
Transparency:  good
Location of site: Silverdale, WA USA
47N,123W
Site classification: Suburban
Sky darkness: 5.7 - 6 <Limiting magnitude>
Telescope: Celestron C8
Eyepieces: 24mm Koenig, 18mm UO Ortho, 3x Barlow
Magnification: 250x, 333x
Additional: PC164C videcamera plus 3x Barlow app. 1000x magnification		 Located just NE of Antares, very low altitude for me. Visually the AB components are easy to split at 250x, but the poor air at low elevation causes the colors to twinkle badly. I suspect either a white or yellow white color for AB and bluish for C and D. My copy of the WDS lists both C and D as companions. Measurement: AB at 3x with a W30 filter installed to cut down on the little spectra caused by the low altitude; 3.2 sec at 339 deg PA. At prime focus: AC 150.7 sec at 358.1 deg PA; AD 156.0 sec at 251.2 deg PA.

 

 
Luis Argüelles
Star: Rho Oph
Date & Time: 11 July, 2002, 22:40 UT
Seeing: 6 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)>. 
Transparency: 5- <1-10, 10 best>
Location of site: Quintueles, near Gijon, Spain
Elevation: 20 m.
Site classification: Suburban garden
Temperature: 16.8ºC
Humidity: ~ 75% (less than 1 km from sea)
Sky darkness: 3-3.5 <Limiting magnitude> 
Conditions: Lots of light pollution from Gijon at west. Clouds rolling from there.
Telescope: Takahashi FS-102
Mount: Vixen GP w/Skysensor 2000
Eyepieces: 10mm and 5mm Eudiascopics 
Magnification: 82x, 164x
HS: 1 <1-5 Scale (1 best)>		 At 82x using the 10mm Eudiascopic, I observe a beautiful, symmetrical triangle where the AB components forming the brightest vertex are clearly split. Observing conditions have deteriorated a bit and the low altitude of this double over the horizon (hey, it seems to me more a double from Scorpius than from Ophiuchus) give a not perfect image.

At 164, I confirm the view of a beautiful double, and color of both AB components is clearly gold, no doubt about this. Difference of magnitude is very very small and almost impossible to discern if there is difference of magnitude at all.
Components C and D are fainter and compose a fantastic view thorough the eyepiece.
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
Thad Robosson
Star: Rho Oph
Date & Time: Aug 06, 2002; 21:09:04
Seeing: 7 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)>. 
Transparency: 6 <1-10, 10 best>
Location of site: Twin Points Observatory,
Phoenix, Arizona, USA
33 26.725N, 112 18.902W
Site classification: 
Temperature: 86*F -> 79*
Humidity: 31%RH -> 51%RH
Sky darkness: <Limiting magnitude> 
Conditions: Some thin clouds.  No breeze. 
Telescope: 8"f/6 Newtonian
Mount: EQ
Eyepieces: 10mm, 13mm, & 15mm Vixen
Lanthanum,  22mm & 35mm Televue
Panoptic, 2x shorty Barlow, 5x Televue
PowerMate, Celestron Microguide,
Custom built filar micrometer.
Magnification: 55x, 92x
HS: 3 <1-5 Scale (1 best)>
 		 A bright pair of dual white stars flanked to the N and W by fainter, bluish tinted
stars.  PA of AB near 335*, AC near 355*.  Easily seen as split at 92x.

Ambiance...After spending a while straightening out my Dec. circle, I did battle
with the computer and my recorded macros that supposedly make this easier.  Apparently there is a glitch in the software. I instead opt to do the "cut and paste",
which eliminates the problem, and turns out to be easier anyhow. Next door 
neighbor has back porch light on. It's absolutely maddening!!!  But I'm nearly
done with light shield, which will be a plus, now that I'm up to 3 neighbor's lights
that interfere. My wife is busy watering her plants and flowers, and our 3 dogs
are stirring around the backyard, but none show much interest in my activities. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

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