Lassell 1 -- Multiple Star System in Cygnus
Triple Double Stars
Double stars are common objects for amateur telescopes. When two double stars occur
together, they are often favored as prime viewing objects. The November 2019 issue of
Sky and Telescope, in an article written by Sue French, mentioned Lassell-1 as a triple
double star in Cygnus!! I had not heard of it before. How could I pass that up? So, Lassell-1
was added to my next clear night’s list of things to observe.
I star hopped to Lassell-1 from the star marking the end of the wing of the celestial swan last
Saturday night. It was a long star hop but did not prove difficult. I did not, at first, recognize
Lassell-1 because the low magnification (27x) I was using to star hop kept me from seeing a
couple of the 13th magnitude stars making up the multiple star system. My light-polluted
backyard did not help either. Upping the magnification to 243x showed all six stars with no
difficulty and the triple double proved to be as fine a sight as I had hoped for.
together, they are often favored as prime viewing objects. The November 2019 issue of
Sky and Telescope, in an article written by Sue French, mentioned Lassell-1 as a triple
double star in Cygnus!! I had not heard of it before. How could I pass that up? So, Lassell-1
was added to my next clear night’s list of things to observe.
I star hopped to Lassell-1 from the star marking the end of the wing of the celestial swan last
Saturday night. It was a long star hop but did not prove difficult. I did not, at first, recognize
Lassell-1 because the low magnification (27x) I was using to star hop kept me from seeing a
couple of the 13th magnitude stars making up the multiple star system. My light-polluted
backyard did not help either. Upping the magnification to 243x showed all six stars with no
difficulty and the triple double proved to be as fine a sight as I had hoped for.