|
While attempting to image the Earthshine on the Moon, I noticed this star on the camera LCD screen. As I looked at the images, I thought I had jiggled the camera during the half second exposure because I saw two stars. On further review, the second star just 20.1? below Chi Tauri is another star. Look closely. Its very dim but its there. It shows up easily on the full resolution image on my website. I?m unsure if this is an optical double only, or an actual companion star of Chi Tauri. Chi Tauri itself is an actual binary system with separation of only 0.8?
A few minutes later, the moon occulted both stars only about 2 seconds apart. I was going to try to capture it on video, but my camera would not pick up the earthshine or either star in video. Remember, this is a half second exposure. On the other hand, for a Dobsonian telescope without tracking, I?m rather impressed my camera can pick up an 8.4 Magnitude star in a half second exposure ? short enough for no trailing. I think its time to try for some star clusters!
|
