Complete Struve Catalog, Double Star Abbreviations, and other Double Star Info
Double star aficionados may appreciate this complete list (http://www.munisingwebsites.com/look...ads/Struve.xls) of double stars associated with Friedrich Georg Wilhelm (“FGW”) von Struve. They are conveniently listed by constellation and then by Right Ascension therein.
These “Struve doubles” are usually found in databases and charts in one of two formats: either preceded by a capital Greek letter sigma, Σ, or by the abbreviation “STF”. Many colorful double stars have Struve numbers affilitated with them, such as Delta Cygni which is also referred to as Σ 2579 or STF 2579. When using Cartes du Ciel (CdC) loaded with the Washington Double Star (WDS) Catalog, one uses the STF designation to look up the FGW Struve doubles.
On the subject of doubles and astronomers named Struve, you may be interested to know that another famous Struve, Otto Struve, also has a number of double stars to his name. These are typically tighter or fainter pairs and are given the prefix OΣ or “STT” (the latter designation is used in Cartes du Ciel). There were several other prominent astronomers in the Struve family besides FGW and Otto, as described in this Wikipedia article: Struve family - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
When I am at the eyepieces hunting down tight or magnitude contrast pairs, such as STT 103 which I observed last night (look under 16 AUR for details on this challenging double: Eagle Creek Observatory -- Double Star Listings for Auriga, the Charioteer), I wonder how Otto Struve discovered some of these. The answer is he had his own humongous reflecting telescope in the McDonald Observatory several hours west of me here in Texas (Otto Struve Telescope - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia).
Taken in part from Burnham’s Celestial Handbook, volume One, revised edition, below is a short list of double star prefixes and the astronomer in whose catalog they can found. There are many more than these, but this is the list I have used most often. I have added a separate column to indicate the prefix that is necessary when searching for this star in Cartes du Ciel.
Astronomer Prefix CdC designation (if different)
FGW Struve Σ stf
Otto Struve OΣ stt
SW Burnham β bu
RG Aitken A
WJ Hussey Hu
GW Hough Ho
For the amateur astronomer who wishes to consult a chart to see what doubles abound in a particular constellation, Toshimi Taki’s double star site may prove useful: Taki's Home Page
Here’s to seeing double!
Last edited by MarkM; 01-06-2010 at 10:50 PM.
Location: 30 19' N; 97 54' W; elev 248 meters; yellow/green zone; NELM 5.7
Instruments: Obsession 15" Dob; Orion XT8i; 2" refractor (Galileoscope); Televue EP arsenal; Bushnell 7X50 binos
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