Re: Naked eye star splitting

From: Brian Tung (brian_at_isi.edu)
Date: 06/29/04 

Date: Tue, 29 Jun 2004 17:50:28 +0000 (UTC)

Chris L Peterson wrote:
> That said, it is common for children to have very good eyesight. I can just
> split eta Lyra under good conditions (I'm 46), but I've seen a number of
> kids do it with apparent ease.

This is not a nitpick. Honest!

I've now seen you write eta Lyra (or Lyrae) twice now. Are you sure you
mean eta Lyrae and not epsilon Lyrae? The separation of eta Lyrae is
about 28 arcseconds. If anyone, young or not, can do that with apparent
ease (or heck, even without apparent ease), that is simply amazing.

On the other hand, epsilon Lyrae has a separation of 208 arcseconds and
that, indeed, I can split without much difficulty. The trouble around
here in Santa Monica is finding a night on which the sky is dark enough
to see the stars in the first place, but if I can see them, I can split
them.

Brian Tung <brian@isi.edu>
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Relevant Pages

  • Re: Naked eye star splitting
    ... >I've now seen you write eta Lyra (or Lyrae) twice now. ... >mean eta Lyrae and not epsilon Lyrae? ... If anyone, young or not, can do that with apparent ... The latter was said to be the eyesight test used for Roman Centurion ...
    (sci.astro.amateur)
  • Re: Naked eye star splitting
    ... >mean eta Lyrae and not epsilon Lyrae? ... If anyone, young or not, can do that with apparent ... detect the stars in the first place. ...
    (sci.astro.amateur)