LEO DOUBLES

The following series of photos was taken with the 10" Newt and the JSP AstroCamera for the Apr 1997 issue of Sky and Telescope. The Low res photos were taken at an EFL of about 125 inches and the HI res photos were taken at an EFL of about 100 feet. Just as a point of reference this is more than twice the length of the Yerkes 40" telescope.

The film used was Kodak PPF 400 and exposures ranged from 1 sec to 10 seconds.

The position angles are approximately correct if you add 180 degs to the numbers shown. No digital enhancement was used other than to enlarge the print by a factor of about 2x. Color is as represented by normal printing from PPF 400 film.

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Gamma Leo

Alpha Leo

54 Leo

88 Leo

83 Leo

Tau Leo

90 Leo

The faint star is not the companion. The slight elongation of the bright star is all that can be seen of the double at this resolution.

90 Leo, Hi Res

Sigma 1521, Hi Res

Sigma 215

Sigma 215, Hi Res

Note slight elongation in the direction of the position angle. Separating this pair photographically with a 10" scope is really pushing the envelope. Especially with the seeing conditions we have around it. It is fairly easy visually but 7th Mag requires an exposure long enough to blur the image badly. Color photos did not show any hint of elongation.

81 Leonis?

The lonely double. I have about 5 photos of this guy and have hunted at length for its companion but I see nothing where it should be.

Sigma 1399

Leo 1421

1442 Leo