Three volumes of Burnham’s Celestial Handbook list hundreds of double stars for all the constellations, from Andromeda to Vulpecula. Data in his tables include the separation of the two stars in seconds of arc (his column is headed DIST). It is quite rewarding to try and see both stars with a telescope or binoculars. This topic is all about the challenge of resolving double star components.
Here is an example from my 6" f/2.2 Celestron Origin taken on October 26, 2024 with 10-second exposures and 10 minute total integration time. This is the double HD 35148 and HD 35149 (23 Orionis) in Orion. Burnham lists the separation as 32", and SIMBAD gives the visual magnitudes and spectral types as 7.2 & B8/9, and 5.0 & B2IV/V, respectively. Both components can be seen in the image.
Logbook Entries
Date: October 26, 2024
Time: 2:09 am
Location: Kempt Shore, Nova Scotia, Canada
Latitude: 45°N
Sky: Clear
Temperature: 6°C
Moon Phase: Waning crescent (28%)
I like other double stars and now they can be observed.
One of them is Gamma Leo whose components shine with a golden or orange color. I think I could Split It Up using 100x.
Besides it’s a orbital binary.
Thats a pretty good split and a beautiful pic. I am not a huge double star guy, but when i do decide to go for splits i just throw a ton of aperture at it and call it good
Splitting double stars is a good observing program for astronomers that live in Bortle 10 urban skies. I live in Phoenix Arizona and spend early morning observing Polaris, Mizar, Alberio and Izar.
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