United States or Trinidad and Tobago ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Not far away is the closer double 42, composed of a sixth and a seventh magnitude star, distance 1.25", p. 350°. The four-inch is capable of splitting this star, but we shall do better to use the five-inch. In passing we may glance at the tenth-magnitude companion to eta, distance 225", p. 304°. Another wide pair is found in zeta, magnitudes three and nine, distance 185", p. 40°.
In the central portion of Hydra, represented on map No. 7, we find its leading star alpha, sometimes called Alphard, or Cor Hydræ, a bright second-magnitude star that has been suspected of variability. It has a decided orange tint, and is accompanied, at a distance of 281", p. 153°, by a greenish tenth-magnitude star.
He has also observed a fourth star of the twelfth magnitude, distant 45" from the largest star, p. 85°. This is apparently unconnected with the others, although it is only half as distant as the tenth-magnitude component is from the primary. Sigma 590 is interesting because of the similarity of its two components in size, both being of about the seventh magnitude, distance 10", p. 318°.
Pollux has five faint companions, of which we may expect to see three, as follows: Tenth magnitude, distance 175", p. 70°; nine and a half magnitude, distance 206", p. 90°, and ninth magnitude, distance 229", p. 75°. Burnham has seen a star of thirteen and a half magnitude, distance 43", p. 275°, and has divided the tenth-magnitude star into two components, only 1.4" apart, the smaller being of the thirteenth magnitude, and situated at the angle 128°. A calculation based on Dr.
With our four-inch we look for the well-known companion of Vega, a tenth-magnitude star, also of a blue color deeper than the hue of its great neighbor. The distance is 50", p. 158°. Under the most favorable circumstances it might be glimpsed with the three-inch, but, upon the whole, I should regard it as too severe a test for so small an aperture.
With the four-inch glass we see without difficulty the tenth-magnitude companion following Aldebaran at a distance of 114", p. 35°. There is an almost inexplicable charm about these faint attendants of bright stars, which is quite different from the interest attaching to a close and nearly equal pair.
In omicron^2 we come upon an interesting triple star, two of whose components at any rate we can easily see. The largest component is of the fourth magnitude. At a distance of 82", p. 105°, we find a tenth-magnitude companion. This companion is itself double, the magnitudes of its components being ten and eleven, distance 2.6", p. 98°. Hall says of these stars that they "form a remarkable system."
With the five-inch we may detect one and perhaps two of the companion stars in the quadruple beta. The magnitudes are five, ten, and two eleven, distances 67", p. 309°; 86", p. 276°; and 6.5", p. 15°. The close pair is comprised in the tenth-magnitude star.
It was last seen in its original form with the Lick telescope on April 26th, when it had sunk to the lowest limit of visibility. To everybody's astonishment it reappeared in the following August, and on the 17th of that month was seen shining with the light of a tenth-magnitude star, but presenting the spectrum of a nebula!
The magnitudes are five and seven, distance 6.7", p. 348°. The star gamma, of magnitude two and a half, has a tenth-magnitude companion, distant 51", p. 238°. Sigma 516, also called 39 Eridani, consists of two stars of magnitudes six and nine, distance 6.4", p. 150°; colors, yellow and blue. The supposed binary character of this star has not yet been established.
Word Of The Day