I would like a list of two-color binaries

[skintigh]

Last year I found several beautiful blue/yellow binaries that were real crowd-pleasers, but it seems they are gone for the next 6 months and now I can't find any beautiful ones to replace them. I randomly visited a few dozen and found a couple faint ones, and I looked online but couldn't find a list anywhere.

Does anyone know of a list somewhere, or could they suggest some binaries to me? I was even thinking of programming a "tour" for my LX200GPS and then uploading it to whereever one uploads such things. Maybe there already is one, can't find any of those, either...

[RickJ]

Iota Cancer is a nice one for this time of the year and quite bright.

Rick

[Nick Theodorakis]

Albireo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albireo) (Beta-Cygni) is an easy target and good crowd-pleaser, but you either have to wait until this summer, or get up at 4 am.

Nick

edit: since you mentioned that your favorites are gone for the next few months, it's probably already on your list. Still worth a mention for others reading this thread.

[skintigh]

That was my favorite :) That one was a complete surprise, my friend (date?) wanted to look at some of the brightest stars, so I was just expecting a bright dot, and pow! That was one we could both agree on: I love planets and globular clusters, my lady friends always love the open clusters and want to see the moon, and sometimes Jupiter or Saturn. The Orion nebula is another we can agree on. But I'm off my own topic now.

[RickJ]

I should also have mentioned Gamma Andromeda. It is sinking fast in the west but still around for early evening. It's a triple star but the third is very close and requires excellent seeing to split. The main two are the color contrast pair.

Rick

[jniemann]

I'll second Rick's suggestion of Iota Cancri - its a real stunner !
http://www.pbase.com/jniemann/image/87523737

Tau 1 Aquarii is nice, too:
http://www.pbase.com/jniemann/image/106073890

Cheers,
Judd

[Hornblower]

Here are two lists from Sky and Telescope of good visual double and multiple stars. For vivid color contrast look for large numbers in the Color difference column. Turn the pages back to read the entire articles.

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/doublestars/3304626.html?page=3&c=y

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/doublestars/3304631.html?page=3&c=y

[skintigh]

Thank you! If the skies ever clear I will check those out, maybe even write a tour. I think I figured out why my scope refused to keep stars centered so now I can finally take some pictures... and then of course the clouds moved in and we may have our first rain in months.

[skintigh]

It seems someone else had the same idea as me and made a tour:
http://mysite.verizon.net/wayne1026/main/colordouble.html
I haven't tested it as it's pouring, and I didn't double check that all the good ones are there, yet, but it seems comprehesive.

Also, here's all the rest of the tours I've found so far. Meade doesn't seem to link to them even though they host them...
http://www.meade.com/support/auto/EtxAutostar/AutostarTourFiles/