An Anthology of Visual Double Stars

Description

Modern telescopes of even modest aperture can show thousands of double stars. Many are faint and unremarkable but hundreds are worth searching out. Veteran double-star observer Bob Argyle and his co-authors take a close-up look at their selection of 175 of the night sky's most interesting double and multiple stars. The history of each system is laid out from the original discovery to what we know at the present time about the stars. Wide-field finder charts are presented for each system along with plots of the apparent orbits and predicted future positions for the orbital systems. Recent measurements of each system are included which will help you to decide whether they can be seen in your telescope, as well as giving advice on the aperture needed. Double star observers of all levels of experience will treasure the level of detail in this guide to these jewels of the night sky.

Bob Argyle has observed double stars since 1966. He has been Director of the Webb Deep-Sky Society's Double Star Section since 1970. He edited Observing and Measuring Visual Double Stars (2012) and writes monthly columns on double stars for Astronomy Now and the Webb Society. He is a Fellow of Royal Astronomical Society, a Member of the International Astronomical Union and Editor of Observatory magazine. Mike Swan worked for the Ordnance Survey in England. He has extensive experience in computer graphics and uranography and was solely responsible for the Webb Deep-Sky Society Star Atlas. He is currently completing a two part Atlas of Galactic Clusters. In this volume he produced the finder charts, the all-sky charts and orbital plots. Andrew James has been interested in double stars since the late 1970s. He is a long-term member, and past President, of the Astronomical Society of New South Wales (ASNSW), and formed its Double Star Section in 1979. His interests include the historical backgrounds and works of various discoverers of southern double stars.

'This anthology was prepared by three expert amateur astronomers ... The book catalogs 175 double stars suitable for viewing with amateur equipment. For each pair it provides observed, calculated, and inferred properties, catalog number, historical records, modern measurements, observing advice, and more. The introductory chapters include one devoted to biographical profiles of historical and contemporary observers. This work belongs in the library of every high school or college with an astronomy club, or that offers astronomy classes with lab sections. It is a worthy, simpler supplement to lead author Argyle's Observing and Measuring Visual Double Stars.' S. P. Maran, Choice 'I very much enjoyed reviewing this book which took me a while as I kept getting side-tracked looking things up that caught my attention! I thoroughly recommend this excellent book and consider it an essential part of the armoury for any serious double star observer. Well done to the authors for producing a work on another level to conventional publications on double stars.' Andrew Robertson, The Deep-Sky Observer 'The authors' decades of experience in observing visual double stars and compiling catalogues has led to this wonderful selection of 175 visual binaries from both hemispheres that is a pleasure to thumb through and enjoy ... While this is an anthology of visual binaries, the relevant complementary results from techniques like spectroscopy and interferometry as they pertain to multiplicity degree are not overlooked ... A particularly appreciated and humanizing aspect of this book is a collection of biographies of classical as well as modern observers-both professionals and amateurs-who have and still are contributing to this venerable subfield of astronomy ... This is a book that aficionados of double stars will return to again and again.' Harold A. McAlister, The Observatory 'Each double star has its own chapter, and therein is a finder chart, details of the immediate celestial environment, a tabulated summary of the double's physical parameters, a fascinating history and, most importantly, an historical summary of the measurements of the double ... Useful chapters are included on 'Double star resources' - detailing websites and catalogues - and 'Observational double star groups' where both existing and new observers can contact others (it is quite probable that the Anthology will inspire more observers to explore these fabulous celestial sights.) For your reviewer though the most fascinating chapter is that giving biographies of well-known current and historical double star observers. This chapter really brings the science to life ... I can heartily recommend this volume to amateur observers ... If you already have The Cambridge Double Star Atlas, buying the Anthology is a must. If you haven't - buy both!.' John McCue, Journal of the British Astronomical Association