Basic newcomer questions...

On Jan 31, 5:23 am, Pete Lawrence wrote:
On 30 Jan 2007 04:40:41 -0800, wrote:

Is that because it's a binary or something else?

Sirius is a binary but it is not easy to see its' 13th magnitude
companion. Sirius being over fourteen magnitudes brighter drowns out
Sirius B. To see it you need a fairly big aperture scope with plenty
of magnification.

Actually Bill, the Pup Star (the companion to Sirius) is magnitude
+8.44 and is gradually (over the next couple of years at least)
getting further away from Sirius itself.

Well I got that rather wrong ;-( !

To see it you need a well
collimated scope and a night of reasonable to good seeing. The
technique is to wait until Sirius is at its highest point in the sky,
use as high a magnification as the seeing will stand and nudge the
scope so that Sirius is just behind the north-western edge of the
field of view. The Pup lies to the south east. Alternatively,
observing in bright twilight reduces the glare of Sirius and can make
the Pup easier to see.

Sounds like I should try this. Being in the Southern hemisphere will
help with the altitude of Sirius. Do you think an 8" scope will do the
trick?

Bill



Of course this isn't going to be possible with 15x70 binoculars. ;-)
--
Pete Lawrencehttp://www.digitalsky.org.uk
Last updated June 2006