Observation by Paul Leyland: Barnard's Star

Uploaded by

Dr Paul Leyland

Observer

Paul Leyland

Observed

2020 Aug 13 - 00:00

Uploaded

2020 Sep 11 - 17:47

Objects

Barnard's-Star

Equipment
  • 0.4m Dilworth-Relay
  • SX Trius Pro 814
  • No filter
Location

Tacande Observatory, MPC J22

Target name

Barnard's Star

Title

Barnard's Star

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Comments
Dr Paul Leyland
Dr Paul Leyland, 2021 Jun 03 - 15:22 UTC

The text below dropped through the gaps when the web site was uprated.  Fortunately https://britastro.org/node/24192 still exists.

Series of images of Barnard's star were taken on 2019-08-30 and 2020-08-13 at a variety of exposure times and plate scales.  The two best from 2019 and three best from 2020 were measured in Astrometrica against the Gaia DR2 catalogue.

The mean position in 2019 was 17:57:47.40, +04:44:59.8 and in 2020 it was 17:57:47.34, +04:45:10.0 with estimated errors of 0.3 arcseconds in each measurement. The motion is thus -0.9" in RA and +10.2" in Dec over a period of 349 days.  The corresponding figures in Gaia DR2, scaled by a factor of 349/365, are -0.77" and 9.91".  Agreement is acceptable.

Simple arithmetic produces a measured annual proper motion of 10.7 seconds of arc per annum in PA 355.0 degrees.

Dr Paul Leyland
Dr Paul Leyland, 2021 Jul 25 - 13:22 UTC

Another image taken on 2021-07-04 23:05:19 with a 3 second exposure was measured at 17:57:47.30 +04:45:18.9 with an error of 0.15" in each axis. The movement over 674 days (1.845 years) is -1.50" in RA and 19.1" in Dec, or -0.81" and 10.35" per annum respectively.  Gaia DR2 has -0.803" and 10.363" per annum.

Agreement is excellent!

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