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Epsilon Lyr (Multiple Star, in Lyra)
Observer: Richard Pattie (e-mail: exmedia123@gmail.com)
Instrument: 5-inch other Location: Laguna Beach, California, USA
Light pollution: severe Transparency: good Seeing: excellent
Time: Mon Sep 30 01:34:00 2013 UT Obs. no.: 1894
I am new to viewing doubles and still fairly new to amateur astronomy. After reading other accounts of viewing Eps Lyr my report might stretch credulity, but I swear this was just the way it happened. I live in a heavily light-polluted area, but the air was uncommonly still that night. Using an Orion 5" mak-cass on an SE 6/8 mount, I went to Epsilon Lyrae 1, a double star I had not seen before. I was using a good 13mm eyepiece and, because the air was so stable, it looked like each individual star might also be a double! Added a Barlow, and at 6.5mm was able to confirm my suspicion. This should have been the absolute magnification limit, but I was on a roll, so I swapped in an ES 4.7mm ep and was rewarded with four perfectly still, perfectly round stars with a single diffraction ring around each, the fabled Airy disk. That was at 328x with my little 5" scope! I may never see these exact conditions again, so thought I'd report it. I did look it up afterward, and Epsilon Lyrae 1 is also called the "double-double." Incredibly, the two systems orbit each other. The separations are 2.2" and 2.4" respectively, which confirms that the resolution in my area was extraordinarily good.
Epsilon Lyr (Multiple Star, in Lyra)
Observer: Dr. Winfried Melder (e-mail: wmelder@atos-group.com)
Instrument: 114-mm equatorial reflector Location: Aachen, Germany
Light pollution: moderate Transparency: good Seeing: good
Time: Mon Oct 16 19:45:00 2000 UT Obs. no.: 539
As I was in testing of my new telescope (a VIXEN R114S newtonian on a GreatPolaris mount), I tried to get eps Lyr, the double double, which I wasn't able to split into 4 by maens of my older 76mm Newtonian.I just looked out to reach Wega, which was quite near the zenith (hard to look through the pointing glass). Even in the 6x30 searcher-scope eps Lyr was split into 2, well known from history(who ever wonders about this?). Then I tried to go for a 26mm PL eyepiece (x34) nothing happens. Then I tried 18mm ortho(x50 respectivly) nothing... bad luck ... ? not a good buy ??. Then I tried the last a 9mm ortho (x100) eyepiece and there it was. Great the better one was epsilon 2 Lyra which has almost the same mag but only 2,3" separation. The other one was a little harder, but to confirm my observation I could see that the directions of the doubles have a difference of about 90. I think I should look out for a 5mm eyepice to hence 180x for best conditions.
Epsilon Lyr (Multiple Star, in Lyra)
Observer: Harold Williams (e-mail: clouseau@webtv.net)
Instrument: 10-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Light pollution: light Transparency: fair Seeing: fair
Time: Sat Jun 20 16:00:00 1998 UT Obs. no.: 364
The first really good sky conditions by Philadelphia standards in weeks and we have an almost full moon! I decided to give observing a shot anyway. I wanted to try for something I'd never seen in my scope and chose the Double Double. Since Vega was the only guide star visible, this was going to take some guesswork. At 60x, it took a few minutes of searchine to find the brightest two stars. Then, I dropped in the Barlow and went to 180x. At first, I thought I was out of luck. On a second, closer look I could just make out the companion stars. This may not be a big deal to many observers. But, considering the conditions I have to observe under, I was quite pleased to add this item to my personal list.
Epsilon Lyr (Multiple Star, in Lyra)
Observer: Harold Williams (e-mail: clouseau@webtv.net)
Instrument: 10-inch Dobsonian reflector Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Light pollution: light Transparency: fair Seeing: fair
Time: Sat Jun 20 16:00:00 1998 UT Obs. no.: 363
The first really good sky conditions by Philadelphia standards in weeks and we have an almost full moon! I decided to give observing a shot anyway. I wanted to try for something I'd never seen in my scope and chose the Double Double. Since Vega was the only guide star visible, this was going to take some guesswork. At 60x, it took a few minutes of searchine to find the brightest two stars. Then, I dropped in the Barlow and went to 180x. At first, I thought I was out of luck. On a second, closer look I could just make out the companion stars. This may not be a big deal to many observers. But, considering the conditions I have to observe under, I was quite pleased to add this item to my personal list.
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