See Software Bisque Featured on PBS!
 
Data
 


Missing companions
the Double Double in Lyra

Because the two additional stars that make up the "Double Double" are not displayed in TheSky6 they have been added using an SDB - Sky Database file.  The precompiled data with the missing companions for the Double Double can be downloaded here.  This is also true for the Trapezium missing stars.

 

The two stars are found in the full USNO-B1 dataset (1 billion stars to ~21 magnitude at 80 gigabytes).  The stars positions and magnitudes were taken from the USNO-B1 dataset.

  • Double Double missing companions

  • Instructions for adding SDB's

  • Trapezium SDB example

  • Zoom in on Double Double

    •

    To search the missing stars use Edit | Find and the entries are listed under the SDB's heading labeled "Double Double" as shown here.

     

    NOTE:  The USNO-B stars do not have unique identifying ID's like the GSC, Hipparcos/Tycho, SAO, etc.

    USNO B1 star entries

    Star entries shown here

    You can now go directly to the stars commonly referred to as the Double Double.

    And consider the following image created using the Palomar Sky Survey (DSS) found on the 102 CD-ROMS.  The blue lines are from the Washington Double Star data.  The lines depict which stars are interacting (gravitational speaking) constituting a "double" star system.  Enable the Double Star plotting to see the double star data.

    Objects Tool Bar

    Double Stars
    Icon highlighted

    Don't see the Objects tool bar?  Use View | Tool Bars | Toolbars Setup and enable the Objects Tool Bar.

    Toolbar setup

    Pick the ones you want

    The Washington Double Star data also has entries for the stars but the level of accuracy is not as good as the Hipparcos/Tycho, UCAC2, or USNO-B1 data.  To see this zoom in and split the double!
     

    USNO SDB stars added are turquoise markers in the image

    DSS photo and Washington Double stars enabled
    RealSky/DSS Copyright

    Note: There are erroneous stars added in the datasets that are actually diffraction spikes caused by the telescope's secondary mirror support!

    Consider this over 1.5 billions stars!
    USNO-B1, UCAC2, SAO,
    GSC, Hipparcos/Tycho

    Zoom in and split the double

    Centered on star HIPPARCOS 91919

    Data from the Washington Double Star data displayed
     

    NOTE: Here you can see the USNO-B1 entry for the second star compared to the Washington Double Star position indicated by the blue line.  The positions from the USNO-B1 dataset are more accurate than the double star data.

    Trapezium Example

    And finally another example.  The 4 stars in the center of M42 the Orion Nebula NGC1976 are commonly known as the Trapezium.

    Trapezium
    Click on the image for complete details!
    1 Billion stars plotted!

    Even with 1 billion stars plotted most of the components for the Trapezium are not plotted!  Why?