Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Double Star - Mintaka (Delta Orionis)

-Scope: Edu-Sci 50mm refractor



If you look up at the constellation, Orion, the three stars that form the belt is easily recognisable. To spot the star Mintaka, it is the faintest of the three stars.. If you take the above photo as a reference, Mintaka is the star on the right. (although the above pic do not show Mintaka as the fainter of the three stars)

Mintaka is actually a multiple star system that is beyond a 50mm scope. But its an easy double to spot because it has such a wide separation of 52 arc seconds! What's interesting about this double is the difference in magnitude between Mintaka (A) and its 6.8th mag companion(C), Mintaka itself is about 2.2 mag. Try it and see for yourself, make sure you do not overlook the fainter double!

*Note: The above visual companion is referred as the C component.

1 comment:

  1. Very useful report on Mintaka.What focal length telescope I would need to see separated Mintaka from its companion?

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