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I was able to replicate this in my version V0.19.1 of Stellarium, I upgraded to V0.22.1 to find NGC 5195 seems to be fixed.
I had been meaning to upgrade for some time now 🙂
Chris N
I do not think you are going to see two stars orbiting about a common center of mass in a short time scale, in the same way you might see Ganymede going around Jupiter. Short period binary systems are so close together you will not separate the stars visually, but you can easily detect the varying brightness as one star passes in front of the other, if they are so oriented. Check out the Eclipsing Binary stars recommended for observation in the variable star section. W Ursa Majoris is one star I have monitored and it has a short period of about 7 hrs so if you start at the right time you can easily plot a light curve in a night.
I wanted to edit/correct my previous post to state that the Big Dipper or The Plough is an “Asterism” i.e. just the brighter tail end of Ursa Major. That is to say just a small group of stars within a constellation or spanning more than one constellation, such as The Summer Triangle. But I have yet to find out how to edit a previous post.
Sorry for the confusion
ChrisHi Ross,
As a recent returner to the fascinating science of Astronomy, I find that the constellations are the same but technology has moved on a lot. So, rather than looking in books and magazines to help me know what is where and when and how bright things are (which I still do by the way) I now also use a free planetarium program on my main computer, and on an Android tablet which I can take outside with me. A good old fashion solution is also a Planisphere.
Pick one obvious constellation to start with like Ursa Major (also know as The Plough or Big Dipper), you will then know where you are (and where the Celestial North Pole is) and you can work out from there.
Best wishes
Chris
