{"id":29042,"date":"2022-02-10T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-02-10T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=29042"},"modified":"2022-03-23T13:17:49","modified_gmt":"2022-03-23T13:17:49","slug":"binocular-tour-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/2022\/02\/10\/binocular-tour-6\/","title":{"rendered":"Binocular tour"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This month\u2019s highlights include a Double Double in Leo and a galaxy triplet<\/p>\n\n

With Steve Tonkin<\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
1. 86 Leo Starfield<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

Recommended equipment: 10x 50<\/strong>
We\u2019ll start this month\u2019s tour with a colourful starfield. Locate the<\/span> orange-yellow mag +5.6 star 86 Leonis between Denebola (Beta (\u03b2) Leonis) and Zosma (Delta (\u03b4) Leonis), and compare its colour to brilliant-white 90 Leonis that is 2\u00b0 back towards Denebola. There is also a multicoloured curved string of 7th and 8th magnitude stars that extends 3\u00b0 eastward from 86 Leo, and the region encompassing 92 Leo and 93 Leo is also very rewarding if you like coloured stars.<\/p>\n\n

2. R Leonis <\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

Recommended equipment:<\/strong> 10x 50<\/strong>
R Leonis is a Mira-type variable star, with a magnitude ranging from +10.1 <\/span>to +5.9 over a 313-day cycle. To locate it, first identify the mag. +5.6 star 18 Leonis and mag. +6.5 19 Leonis. Next, 8 arcminutes south of 19 Leonis is a pair of stars, with R Leonis more easterly. R Leonis is about to start brightening again, so it’s a good time to start viewing it. <\/p>\n\n

3. 17 and 18 Sextantis<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

Recommended equipment:<\/strong> 10x 50<\/strong>
Look about 4.5\u00b0 east of mag. +5.1 Gamma (\u03b3) Sextans where you will<\/span> find a widely separated (12 arcminutes) pair of stars, which make an easy double star for small binoculars. The more easterly one, orange 18 Sextantis, shines at mag. +5.6, and its white companion, 17 Sextantis is slightly fainter at mag. +5.9. There are three fainter colourful binocular doubles within 1.5\u00b0 to the north, but none of these are as close in magnitude. <\/p>\n\n

4. Leo\u2019s Double Double <\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

Recommended equipment:<\/strong><\/strong> 10x 50<\/strong>
Use the chart to identify and locate mag. +4.9 Tau (\u03c4) Leonis. One third of a degree to the north-west is its mag. +6.5 companion, 83 Leonis. Look carefully and you will see that each of these is a double star with a mag. +7.5 companion. Tau Leonis\u2019s pale companion is easier to discern at 1.5 arcminutes but, at only 29 arcseconds, splitting 83 Leonis is a stiff challenge for 10×50 binoculars.<\/p>\n\n

5. Leo Galaxy Triplet<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

Recommended equipment:<\/strong> 15x 70<\/strong>
You\u2019ll need a dark transparent sky for our final targets. If you put mag.<\/span> +3.3 Chort (Theta (\u03b8) Leonis) outside the northwest of the field of view of 15×70 binoculars, the galaxies will be in the centre. You may need averted vision at first, but once you are familiar with their appearance they become easier to see, but you will still need averted vision to discern NGC 3628\u2019s different shape.<\/p>\n\n

6. NGC 3521<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

Recommended equipment:<\/strong> 15x 70<\/strong>
Next is a galaxy that is a bit \u201coff the beaten track\u201d, as there aren\u2019t nearby<\/span> bright marker stars. You\u2019ve already found Tau Leonis, so use that in conjunction with the chart to find 65 Leonis (mag. +5.5) and 69 Leonis (mag. +5.4). Put them near the north and east edge respectively of your field of view, and NGC 3521 will be near the middle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This month\u2019s highlights include a Double Double in Leo and a galaxy triplet<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":29041,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":"","purple_page_number":"54","purple_custom_meta_purple_page_number":"54","purple_seq_number":"1","purple_custom_meta_purple_seq_number":"1","purple_source_article":"article_54-1.xml","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_article":"article_54-1.xml","purple_source_issue":"March-2022","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_issue":"March-2022","purple_external_id":"March-2022-54-1","purple_custom_meta_purple_external_id":"March-2022-54-1","purple_issue_code":"|0000086550||","purple_custom_meta_purple_issue_code":"|0000086550||","purple_android_product":"com.im.skyatnight.202","purple_custom_meta_purple_android_product":"com.im.skyatnight.202","purple_ios_product":"com.im.skyatnight.202","purple_custom_meta_purple_ios_product":"com.im.skyatnight.202","purple_web_product":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_web_product":"","purple_publication_id":"075fab74-0a21-4201-866a-899d6c41c40c","purple_migrated":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[14],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/02\/c6d92939-3d81-4d73-898d-136cac922915.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"3","apple_news_title":""},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/02\/c6d92939-3d81-4d73-898d-136cac922915.jpg",2048,1230,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/02\/c6d92939-3d81-4d73-898d-136cac922915-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/02\/c6d92939-3d81-4d73-898d-136cac922915-300x180.jpg",300,180,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/02\/c6d92939-3d81-4d73-898d-136cac922915-768x461.jpg",768,461,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/02\/c6d92939-3d81-4d73-898d-136cac922915-1024x615.jpg",800,480,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/02\/c6d92939-3d81-4d73-898d-136cac922915-1536x923.jpg",1536,923,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2022\/02\/c6d92939-3d81-4d73-898d-136cac922915.jpg",2048,1230,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"This month\u2019s highlights include a Double Double in Leo and a galaxy triplet","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29042"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29042"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29042\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29667,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29042\/revisions\/29667"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}