In the following pages you will find descriptions and information regarding Southern Double Star south of about -30º Declination. We will discuss this region is because it is a neglected region of the sky with very few useful resources to guide amateur astronomers.
FOR THIRTY YEARS I have been an amateur with a keen interest in Southern Double Stars. My field of interest has been especially with the Dunlop and Rümker doubles which were first viewed in from the Sydney in the mid 1820’s to 1830’s. Although these were really initial surveys for pairs in the south, many of them proved to be wide duos of limited astrophysical importance. However one significant advantage were that they are all at least visible for the smallest of amateur ’scopes.
Among these ‘tid-bits’ you will find various descriptions of other southern pairs, variable stars and single stars that might be some interest to the amateur. The source of some of these objects might be a bit obscure and most originally featured in a series of articles I wrote for the Astronomical Society of New South Wales entitled “Neat Southern Planetaries”. The version of this can also be found at Doug Snyder’s magnificent Website, “Planeary Nebulae Homepage ”. However, newer pairs that I have been adding of late are among the brightest and most prominent in the southern skies.
Like most webpages the development of the purpose of the material presented often has to evolve and change. For example, the original series of these pages was spread into divisions of 3 hours in Right Ascension, but now they span single 1 hour bands. Even this has proved is inadequate, and you will find that the material is spread over several pages within that 1 hour of Right Ascension. I have also removed to whole NEW individual pages several prominent southern objects, including the well known binaries and pairs - like Alpha Centauri, Alpha Crucis and Beta Muscae, etc. You will also find that new pairs and objects are being added almost all the time, and these can be found on the UPDATE PAGES, which will save readers having to go through these pages repeatably. These are usually done every month or two... so you may wish to bookmark the site for future reference - aand come back every know and then.
For those into Deep-Sky there is also a mirror page of these which will be posted soon.
I hope you find these pages useful, and if you have any further ideas or improvements for this site please don’t hesitate to contact me. I am also willing to entertain adding other observations from southern amateurs (will due credit of course.)
(NO
ADS!)