A few weeks ago I was consulting Sky Safari and StelleDoppie to identify objects of binocular interest in Leo Minor and found a likely double star in the upper northwest corner of the constellation boundary with Ursa Major, near Tania Australis. Only a WDS code (no...
April and May suburban skies lack bright bounty for binoculars because the Milky Way is mostly out of sight as we look upward out of the spiral disk of our galaxy, rather than into it as we do in winter and summer when it is high overhead. The Milky Way is the visible...
Perusing constellation boundaries is one of the pleasures of binocular astronomy for me. I’m reminded of the waggish remark on the golf course when a ball has been driven well off the fairway and the helpful comment is made, “A person should really play...
Hydra is the largest constellation in the night sky (1302.84 square degrees). It can be challenging for suburban observers in mid latitudes (like Kansas 😉) because its northern border is at 7 degrees of declination, well to the south, and neighboring houses and trees...
A misperception exists about the capability of 10x binocular to resolve closer double stars. The actual limit is much closer than often believed. The closest double star I have resolved with a 10x binocular is 100 Herculis, which has a separation of only 14.3...
The starfield around the star Wasat in the constellation Gemini (also named Delta Geminorum, 55 Gem, STF 1066) first attracted my notice years ago because of its marque denizen, the planetary nebula, NGC 2392 (the Eskimo Nebula) which is a fine object for high...
