Exoplanet discovered around neighbouring star

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-46196279

What size telescope (aperture) is needed to see Barnard's star?

On Wednesday, November 14, 2018 at 3:18:19 PM UTC-8, StarDust wrote:
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-46196279

What size telescope (aperture) is needed to see Barnard's star?

Even though that article states that Barnard's star is *extremely dim*, at approximately magnitude 9.5, Barnard's star can theoretically be glimpsed in 10 X 50 binoculars, and even a small telescope will easily be good enough to track it down... but the trick here is that Barnard's star is just another dim star amongst dozens of others in the field, so you need a very detailed star chart to know exactly which one it is!

This is one of the best overall pages for this star...

http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/barnard.html

.... and this is the funniest...

https://xkcd.com/2062/

Here is a chart to help you find this little guy...

http://www.nightskyinfo.com/cms/img/...s_star_map.png

.... good luck!

On Wednesday, November 14, 2018 at 8:28:53 PM UTC-8, palsing wrote:
On Wednesday, November 14, 2018 at 3:18:19 PM UTC-8, StarDust wrote:
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-46196279

What size telescope (aperture) is needed to see Barnard's star?

Even though that article states that Barnard's star is *extremely dim*, at approximately magnitude 9.5, Barnard's star can theoretically be glimpsed in 10 X 50 binoculars, and even a small telescope will easily be good enough to track it down... but the trick here is that Barnard's star is just another dim star amongst dozens of others in the field, so you need a very detailed star chart to know exactly which one it is!

This is one of the best overall pages for this star...

http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/barnard.html

... and this is the funniest...

https://xkcd.com/2062/

Here is a chart to help you find this little guy...

http://www.nightskyinfo.com/cms/img/...s_star_map.png

... good luck!

That's what goto is for!

On Wednesday, November 14, 2018 at 8:59:54 PM UTC-8, StarDust wrote:
On Wednesday, November 14, 2018 at 8:28:53 PM UTC-8, palsing wrote:
On Wednesday, November 14, 2018 at 3:18:19 PM UTC-8, StarDust wrote:
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-46196279

What size telescope (aperture) is needed to see Barnard's star?

Even though that article states that Barnard's star is *extremely dim*, at approximately magnitude 9.5, Barnard's star can theoretically be glimpsed in 10 X 50 binoculars, and even a small telescope will easily be good enough to track it down... but the trick here is that Barnard's star is just another dim star amongst dozens of others in the field, so you need a very detailed star chart to know exactly which one it is!

This is one of the best overall pages for this star...

http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/barnard.html

... and this is the funniest...

https://xkcd.com/2062/

Here is a chart to help you find this little guy...

http://www.nightskyinfo.com/cms/img/...s_star_map.png

... good luck!

That's what goto is for!

Well, yeah, a properly aligned go-to can put you within, say, the middle 1/3 of the field of view... but in this case, there are at least a dozen or more stars there... so, which is it? THAT'S why you need a really detailed star chart.

It is much like finding Pluto. It is easy to see, but hard to nail down. As good as go-to can be, it still doesn't label objects for you!

On Nov 14, 2018, palsing wrote
(in ):

On Wednesday, November 14, 2018 at 3:18:19 PM UTC-8, StarDust wrote:
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-46196279

What size telescope (aperture) is needed to see Barnard's star?

Even though that article states that Barnard's star is *extremely dim*, at
approximately magnitude 9.5, Barnard's star can theoretically be glimpsed in
10 X 50 binoculars, and even a small telescope will easily be good enough to
track it down... but the trick here is that Barnard's star is just another
dim star amongst dozens of others in the field, so you need a very detailed
star chart to know exactly which one it is!

This is one of the best overall pages for this star...

http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/barnard.html

... and this is the funniest...

https://xkcd.com/2062/

I laughed my head off when this comic was first posted, I was raised on old
sci-fi and read far too many that used Barnard’s Star as a stage for the
action. They don’t call it Barnard’s Runaway (Laughing) Star for nothing.
;-)

Here is a chart to help you find this little guy...

http://www.nightskyinfo.com/cms/img/...nards_star_map
.png

... good luck!

I have spotted it a time or two, but haven’t tried to in the last couple of
decades, I really should do so again.

--
Harry F. Leopold

The Prints of Darkness (remove gene to email)

“I'm sorry, son, but there's nothing we can do for you. There's no cure for
stupid.“ - John Baker

On Wednesday, November 14, 2018 at 9:09:23 PM UTC-8, palsing wrote:
On Wednesday, November 14, 2018 at 8:59:54 PM UTC-8, StarDust wrote:
On Wednesday, November 14, 2018 at 8:28:53 PM UTC-8, palsing wrote:
On Wednesday, November 14, 2018 at 3:18:19 PM UTC-8, StarDust wrote:
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-46196279

What size telescope (aperture) is needed to see Barnard's star?

Even though that article states that Barnard's star is *extremely dim*, at approximately magnitude 9.5, Barnard's star can theoretically be glimpsed in 10 X 50 binoculars, and even a small telescope will easily be good enough to track it down... but the trick here is that Barnard's star is just another dim star amongst dozens of others in the field, so you need a very detailed star chart to know exactly which one it is!

This is one of the best overall pages for this star...

http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/barnard.html

... and this is the funniest...

https://xkcd.com/2062/

Here is a chart to help you find this little guy...

http://www.nightskyinfo.com/cms/img/...s_star_map.png

... good luck!

That's what goto is for!

Well, yeah, a properly aligned go-to can put you within, say, the middle 1/3 of the field of view... but in this case, there are at least a dozen or more stars there... so, which is it? THAT'S why you need a really detailed star chart.

It is much like finding Pluto. It is easy to see, but hard to nail down. As good as go-to can be, it still doesn't label objects for you!

Barnard is an orange star, red dwarf, not too hard to miss, eh?
But than if it's missed, hey, long as you believe to seen it! LOL!

palsing:
Well, yeah, a properly aligned go-to can put you within, say, the middle 1/3
of the field of view... but in this case, there are at least a dozen or more
stars there... so, which is it? THAT'S why you need a really detailed star
chart.

It is much like finding Pluto. It is easy to see, but hard to nail down. As
good as go-to can be, it still doesn't label objects for you!

A Bisque Paramount with a TPoint model will put Barnard's Star (or
Pluto) dead-center on the camera sensor. In the case of a star,
plate-solving the FITS and bringing it into Aladin
https://aladin.u-strasbg.fr will verify that.

--
I agree with almost everything that you have said and almost everything that
you will say in your entire life.

usenet *at* davidillig dawt cawm

On Thursday, November 15, 2018 at 11:21:54 AM UTC-8, Davoud wrote:
palsing:
Well, yeah, a properly aligned go-to can put you within, say, the middle 1/3
of the field of view... but in this case, there are at least a dozen or more
stars there... so, which is it? THAT'S why you need a really detailed star
chart.

It is much like finding Pluto. It is easy to see, but hard to nail down. As
good as go-to can be, it still doesn't label objects for you!

A Bisque Paramount with a TPoint model will put Barnard's Star (or
Pluto) dead-center on the camera sensor. In the case of a star,
plate-solving the FITS and bringing it into Aladin
https://aladin.u-strasbg.fr will verify that.

Well, for $14,000 it had better!

On Thu, 15 Nov 2018 13:24:50 -0800 (PST), palsing
wrote:

On Thursday, November 15, 2018 at 11:21:54 AM UTC-8, Davoud wrote:
palsing:
Well, yeah, a properly aligned go-to can put you within, say, the middle 1/3
of the field of view... but in this case, there are at least a dozen or more
stars there... so, which is it? THAT'S why you need a really detailed star
chart.

It is much like finding Pluto. It is easy to see, but hard to nail down. As
good as go-to can be, it still doesn't label objects for you!

A Bisque Paramount with a TPoint model will put Barnard's Star (or
Pluto) dead-center on the camera sensor. In the case of a star,
plate-solving the FITS and bringing it into Aladin
https://aladin.u-strasbg.fr will verify that.

Well, for $14,000 it had better!

Any number of $1500 mounts will do the same these days.

On Thursday, November 15, 2018 at 9:12:34 PM UTC-8, Chris L Peterson wrote:
On Thu, 15 Nov 2018 13:24:50 -0800 (PST), palsing pnals...gmail.com
wrote:

On Thursday, November 15, 2018 at 11:21:54 AM UTC-8, Davoud wrote:
palsing:
Well, yeah, a properly aligned go-to can put you within, say, the middle 1/3
of the field of view... but in this case, there are at least a dozen or more
stars there... so, which is it? THAT'S why you need a really detailed star
chart.

It is much like finding Pluto. It is easy to see, but hard to nail down. As
good as go-to can be, it still doesn't label objects for you!

A Bisque Paramount with a TPoint model will put Barnard's Star (or
Pluto) dead-center on the camera sensor. In the case of a star,
plate-solving the FITS and bringing it into Aladin
https://aladin.u-strasbg.fr will verify that.

Well, for $14,000 it had better!

Any number of $1500 mounts will do the same these days.

Well, no such mounts for my 25" Obsession dob :). I feel pretty good when my push-to gets the object in the field of view! A wooden dob this size is pretty rickety when compared to a modern imaging refractor or reflector, so it is no surprise that pointing accuracy is often a little sketchy. Tpoint modeling helps, but perfection, as Davoud has described it, is a fantasy for me.

Nevertheless, this past week I spent 4 nights observing in the local Anza-Borrego desert, and everything was working really well, with objects being consistently somewhere in the field of view anywhere in the sky using an 8mm Meade 80° widefield. It is a *lot* more fun when this happens :) Of course, it got down to 21° F in the wee hours, so proper attire was required... but that is just the cost of doing business.

\Paul A