The last clear night in December on the night of the 18th. It was a cold crisp night at around 10F with no breeze to chill the air anymore than it already was. I had my 8" SCT setup with a 32mm eyepiece and I aimed the telescope into Cassiopeia, again. This time I went after my very first double star. In the 10 years I have been into astronomy I have never really spent any significant time with a double star, so I was in new territory. Double stars aren't difficult objects to sketch, but I wasn't sure what kind of magnification I would need in order to split the double. Luckily this one was split nicely in the 32mm which allowed for a lot more field stars to help make the overall sketch more interesting.
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| Double star Eta Cassiopeiae in the constellation Cassiopeia |
This double cluster is around 19.4 light years away. The main bright star, Eta Cas A is a G-Type star very similar to our sun with a mass that is 97% of our sun and a magnitude 3.4. Eta Cas A is similar enough to our sun that if we were there looking back on our solar system our sun would shine just as bright and look similar in size as Eta Cas does from here. Eta Cas B is the smaller dimmer star which is a magnitude 7.5 and has a very distinct red or orange color while Eta Cas A was mostly white with a slight hint of yellow.
If you'd like to see a time lapse of this sketch along with where to find it in the night sky then be sure to watch the video below:
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