I live in an area that's a mixed bag for observing. While the light pollution is horrendous in Miami I am located at 25.5deg North. This places many objects high in the sky that are low to most observers in North America. The weather here is extremely hot, extremely humid, and with a seemingly never ending cloud cover. But, in the morning hours the concrete jungle has cooled sufficiently, the clouds are minimal and the temperatures comfortable to us, not to mention the light pollution is somewhat reduced.

Lately I have been reading about double stars and small refractors. My 60mm f/15 has been sitting idly for days waiting for the clouds to clear. This weekend I felt poorly and called in sick this morning, not having slept most of the night. It was 6:00am and the clouds were minimal. I decided to take the 60mm Meade, a vintage Taiwan made scope with superb optics, outside. I mounted it on the Twilight I, and decided on a 32mm Celestron Plossl, a 15mm Knight Owl Plossl, and the GSO 2x Shorty Barlow. Morning twilight was minutes from beginning.

I inserted the 32mm in the diagonal and started taking in some beautiful sights with 28x magnification. The Pleiades fit into the field of view showing its stars as sharp little dots. I then went to Orion and observed the Sword region, the two clusters and the nebula. I was amazed that this little gem could show the four stars of the Trapezium distinctly at such low magnification. I also spied several stars, including doubles/multiples. I then went to Sirius and saw the open cluster South of Sirius A, and several other stars.

My curiosity got the better of me and I pointed the little toothpick of a scope at Sirius, not expecting to see anything more than the brightest shining star in the night sky. My Lord, it was beautiful. I recalled in years past how I was able to see the Pup, Sirius B, with my AT72ED at magnifications well below 100x. I have never been able to snag the Pup in darkness, always during twilight, no matter the scope.

I switched from the 32mm Celestron Plossl to my coveted 15mm Knight Owl Plossl. I wish I would have bought a complete set of these low cost gems when Owl Astronomy was in business. Sirius was bright with lots of diffraction rings shimmering in the eyepiece. At 60x I could detect something was there, but no definitive Pup. I tried the 15mm with the 2x Barlow but magnification was a bit high at 120x and the image dimmer that I wanted. I then used the Barlow cell on the eyepiece for around 90x. The image was bright enough to my liking. I could move my eye around the field of view and minimize the brilliance and the diffraction rings. While taking in the beauty of Sirius I spotted something popping in and out of view at 2 o'clock. I though "No, this can't be". But, after a few seconds, there it was again! I kept observing and realized it was indeed the Pup that was popping in and out of view, infrequently, but nevertheless there. I continued enjoying this for several minutes, long enough to see the Pup many times and confirm I was actually seeing it.

The morning was beginning to get brighter but I was still enjoying the views. It was finally just before the sun popped up over the horizon that I decide to pack it up. Sirius B is currently near its largest separation from the main star, making it easier to see, but still quite difficult. I had split Sirius A and B before in my AT72ED at magnifications around 75x, if I remember correctly. However, I was shocked and surprised that I could do it with a 60mm f/15. There have been other observers in Florida that have seen the Pup with small scopes, one from Tampa coming to mind. But, with a 60mm? This blew my mind, even with a huge advantage of location and conditions.

Ed D