Half-hours with the Telescope: Being a Popular Guide to the Use of the Telescope as a Means of Amusement and Instruction.Proctor, Richard A. (Richard Anthony)
Science
Half-hours with the Telescope: Being a Popular Guide to the Use of the Telescope as a Means of Amusement and Instruction.
Proctor, Richard A. (Richard Anthony)
Astronomy; Telescopes
Turn we next to the charming double Albireo, on the beak of Cygnus,
about 36 deg. above the horizon towards the west. The components are 34-1/2"
apart, their magnitudes 3 and 6, their colours orange-yellow, and blue.
It has been supposed (perhaps on insufficient evidence) that this star
is merely an optical double. It must always be remembered that a certain
proportion of stars (amongst those separated by so considerable a
distance) _must_ be optically combined only.
The star [chi] Cygni is a wide double (variable) star. The components
are separated by nearly 26", their magnitudes 5 and 9, their colours
yellow and light blue. [chi] may be found by noticing that there is a
cluster of small stars in the middle of the triangle formed by the stars
[gamma], [delta], and [beta] Cygni (see Map 4, Frontispiece), and that
[chi] is the nearest star _of the cluster_ to [beta]. The star [phi]
Cygni, which is just above and very close to [beta] (Albireo), does not
belong to the cluster. [chi] is about half as far again from [phi] as
[phi] from Albireo. But as [chi] descends to the 11th magnitude at its
minimum the observer must not always expect to find it very easily. It
has been known to be invisible at the epoch when it should have been
most conspicuous. The period of this variable is 406 days.
The star 61 Cygni is an interesting one. So far as observation has yet
extended, it would seem to be the nearest to us of all stars visible in
the northern hemisphere. It is a fine double, the components nearly
equal (5-1/2 and 6), both yellow, and nearly 19" apart. The period of
this binary appears to be about 540 years. To find 61 Cygni note that
[epsilon] and [delta] Cygni form the diameter of a semicircle divided
into two quadrants by [alpha] Cygni (Arided). On this semicircle, on
either side of [alpha], lie the stars [nu] and [alpha] Cygni, [nu]
towards [epsilon]. Now a line from [alpha] to [nu] produced passes very
near to 61 Cygni at a distance from [nu] somewhat greater than half the
distance of [nu] from [alpha].
The star [mu] Cygni lies in a corner of the constellation, rather
farther from [zeta] than [zeta] from [epsilon] Cygni. A line from
[epsilon] to [zeta] produced meets [kappa] Pegasi, a fourth-magnitude
star; and [mu] Cygni, a fifth-magnitude star, lies close above [kappa]
Pegasi. The distance between the components is about 5-1/2", their
magnitudes 5 and 6, their colours white and pale blue.
The star [psi] Cygni may next be looked for, but for this a good map of
Cygnus will be wanted, as [psi] is not pointed to by any well-marked
stars. A line from [alpha], parallel to the line joining [gamma] and
[delta], and about one-third longer than that line, would about mark the
position of [psi] Cygni. The distance between the components of this
double is about 3-1/2", their magnitudes 5-1/2 and 8, their colours
white and lilac.
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