An interesting object for the binocular astronomer is Regulus, Alpha Leonis. Regulus forms a wide magnitude-contrast duo with a fainter companion. Their separation is a whopping 177 arc seconds. But it’s a challenging task to discover the 8th magnitude companion in the glare produced by the 1.3 magnitude Regulus. Bear in mind that Regulus is 400 times brighter than his companion. Of the brightest stars in the sky, Regulus is closest to the ecliptic, and is regularly occulted by the Moon. The brighter ‘star’ at the left edge of the sketch is the mighty planet Saturn. There are occasions that Titan can be detected in my pair of binoculars, but at the time of the observation, Titan was too close to Saturn to be discerned.

Observing data:

Site : Sourbrodt, Belgium
Date : April 26, 2008
Time : around 22.30UT
Binoculars : Bresser 8x56
FOV: 5.9°
Filter : none
Mount : Trico Machine Sky Window
Seeing : 3/5
Transp. : 4/5
Nelm : 6.0
Sketch Orientation : N up, W right.
Digital sketch made with PhotoPaint, based on a raw pencil sketch.