Telescope Reviews: Carbon Star observing

· Get a Cloudy Nights T-Shirt

· Submit a Review / Article

Click here if you are having trouble logging into the forums

Privacy Policy | Please read our Terms of Service | Signup and Troubleshooting FAQ | Problems? PM a Red or a Green Gu… uh, User

You are not logged in. [Login]

Entrance · Main Index · Search · New user · Who's Online
FAQ · Calendar

Observing >> Variable Star Observing and Radio Astronomy

Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | (show all)

John_G
sage

Reged: 01/18/10

Re: Carbon Star observing new

[Re: la200o]
#5274741 - 06/16/12 07:04 PM

I went searching for Comet Loneos C/2006 S3 a couple of nights ago. I didn't see the comet but it's position was right in the vicinity of V Oph which looked almost ruby red. It was very nice.

Post Extras:

John_G
sage

Reged: 01/18/10

Re: Carbon Star observing new

[Re: Astrodj]
#5292882 - 06/28/12 09:07 AM

Quote:

AC Her is not a carbon star from what I can determine. It appears to be a an RV Tauri star of type RVa.

The type of RV Tauri stars varies from type f to k, sometimes m.

It is nonetheless an interesting star. It is a binary with a dust disc.

I took another look at AC Her last night with my 100mm and higher power. I couldn't see any red. It looked yellow. Of the others I looked at, I think CY Cyg, RV Cyg and V460 Cyg were the most colorful. Even with the moon light each were visible in my 15x70s and even my 8x56s although you'd need to be aware you were looking for a carbon star.

Post Extras:

Astrodj
sage

Reged: 08/24/11

Loc: Missouri

Re: Carbon Star observing new

[Re: John_G]
#5293218 - 06/28/12 01:10 PM

Quote:

I took another look at AC Her last night with my 100mm and higher power. I couldn't see any red. It looked yellow. Of the others I looked at, I think CY Cyg, RV Cyg and V460 Cyg were the most colorful. Even with the moon light each were visible in my 15x70s and even my 8x56s although you'd need to be aware you were looking for a carbon star.

I'm going to stay out late and check those out, along with some others. Happy hunting..

Post Extras:

Astrodj
sage

Reged: 08/24/11

Loc: Missouri

Re: Carbon Star observing new

[Re: Astrodj]
#5304220 - 07/05/12 07:08 PM

I have been wondering why the AL list of carbon stars has AC Her listed (#66 on the list)? It is an RV Tauri star, and I don't see it in the SAC Red Star list BTW.

The AL list of Carbon Stars is the only place I see AC Her referenced as a carbon star. Here is an abstract I found about AC Her that might explain it's inclusion on the AL list:

http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1981ApJ...245..208B

Here is a more recent abstract with more info about the dust ring:

http://iopscience.iop.org/0004-637X/541/1/264/pdf/0004-637X_541_1_264.pdf

AC may not look too interesting to the eye at the telescope, but it is a pretty neat star just the same.

Post Extras:

brianb11213
Postmaster

Reged: 02/25/09

Loc: 55.215N 6.554W

Re: Carbon Star observing new

[Re: Astrodj]
#5304836 - 07/06/12 03:44 AM

Quote:

AC may not look too interesting to the eye at the telescope, but it is a pretty neat star just the same.

It's a very interesting star to follow variations visually, easyish to find, fairly rapid variations and accessible to small apertures (10x50 binoculars or a normal "finder" are just about ideal). But it's not a "carbon star" - the spectral range is given as F2 - K4 so, on average, G3 which is very, very similar to the Sun (G2). Not a remarkably red star by any stretch of the imagination.

RV Tau stars are highly evolved objects which have spectral evidence of carbon dredged up from the core but they are not "carbon stars" like WZ Cas (spectral class C9.2 or N1 in "old money").

Post Extras:

Astrodj
sage

Reged: 08/24/11

Loc: Missouri

Re: Carbon Star observing new

[Re: brianb11213]
#5305349 - 07/06/12 12:52 PM

Quote:

Quote:

AC may not look too interesting to the eye at the telescope, but it is a pretty neat star just the same.

It's a very interesting star to follow variations visually, easyish to find, fairly rapid variations and accessible to small apertures (10x50 binoculars or a normal "finder" are just about ideal). But it's not a "carbon star" - the spectral range is given as F2 - K4 so, on average, G3 which is very, very similar to the Sun (G2). Not a remarkably red star by any stretch of the imagination.

RV Tau stars are highly evolved objects which have spectral evidence of carbon dredged up from the core but they are not "carbon stars" like WZ Cas (spectral class C9.2 or N1 in "old money").

Well made point. It is indeed interesting visually as an RV Tauri star, and it is easily accessible as you say. I made a broad comment regarding the visual interest of the star, and stand corrected.

My post was only intended as a possible reason for it's inclusion in the AL list of Carbon Stars. And, since AC Her is not a carbon star, it holds no visual interest for me in that regard.

It is nonetheless visually interesting for other reasons, as you point out.

Post Extras:

Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | (show all)

Extra information

1 registered and 0 anonymous users are browsing this forum.

Moderator: RLTYS

Print Thread

Forum Permissions
      You cannot start new topics
      You cannot reply to topics
      HTML is disabled
      UBBCode is enabled

Thread views: 5256

Jump to

CN Forums

Home

Cloudy Nights LLC
Cloudy Nights Sponsor: Astronomics