[AZ-Observing] Re: Mizar as spectroscopic binary

Hi Gene,

You are in for a surprise. There have been some significant advances 
in optical interferometry. The interferometry work Bob and Dale did 
on Mt. Palomar is very impressive. It appears they may actually get 
images of epsilon Aurigae through the various contact times showing 
the secondary impressed on the image. You should enjoy their SAS 
paper on the 21st.

Jeff

At 18:39 -0700 05/11/2008, gene lucas wrote:
>Alcor and Mizar are one of my favorite objects, too. A quick review on
>my bookshelf turned up the article in Burnham's Celestial Handbook -
>Vol. 3, pp. 1953-1955.
>Mizar is known for many "firsts" -
>- First double star discovered - by Riccioli (1650)
>- First double star to be photographed - by G.P. Bond at Harvard (1857)
>- First binary to be detected spectoscopically (the primary star, Mizar
>A) - Pickering, again at Harvard (1889)
>- Mizar B radial velocity shifts detected as early as 1908 by E.B. Frost
>- Astrometric measurements have detected a third component (also a
>variable star)
>A quote by C.F. Barns (1001 Celestial Wonders): "Pioneer star ... [with
>Alcor] The pair, so happily placed in the crook of the Big Dipper's
>handle, never fail to inspire awe, however frequently observed."
>My curiosity was piqued by the question re: what aperture, etc. would be
>needed to "resolve" the spectroscopic binary components of Mizar... Here
>are the best sources I quickly located (on the web)...
>(1) Dr. James B. Kaler, author of several highly interesting books on
>stars has written this short article:
>http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/mizar.html
>(2) But the best review (so far) about Mizar, throughly covering its
>rich history and concluding with an excellent review of the latest
>research, being conducted at Lowell Observatory out at Anderson Mesa
>with the Navy Prototype Optical Interferometer, is this 1999 article by
>Leos Andros, "A New View of Mizar":
>http://www.leosondra.cz/en/mizar/
>The NPOI consists of an array of several 35cm (13.75 inch) mirrors,
>separated by a maximum of 38 meters (125 feet).
>
>So the answer is, a BIG, LONG interferometer (not a spectroscope).
>Seriously, I doubt anybody will ever actually "view" the separated
>components of Mizar, as they are separated by only about 7 to 8
>  >thousandths< of an arc-second.... Perhaps when the >next< generation
>of truly HUGE telescopes gets built....
>
>Finally, for an exhaustive (86 pages!) professional review of the
>state-of-the-art of astronomical interferometry, have a crack at this
>2003 article by John D. Monnier, "Optical Interferometry in Astronomy"...
>http://fr.arxiv.org/PS_cache/astro-ph/pdf/0307/0307036v1.pdf
>
>Have Fun!!
>Gene Lucas
>(17250)

-- 
Jeff Hopkins
HPO SOFT
Counting Photons
http://www.hposoft.com/Astro/astro.html
Hopkins Phoenix Observatory
7812 West Clayton Drive
Phoenix, Arizona 85033-2439 U.S.A.
(623)849-5889
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