Struve 1664: A Hockey Stick (or Jaws) Near the Sombrero Galaxy

Struve 1664 is a double star in the constellation Virgo, residing near the famous Messier 104, aka the Sombrero Galaxy.

Best viewed on spring nights, Struve 1664 has more to offer than just a double star. In fact, two stars near the binary round out a stellar arrangement called an asterism, that looks like a hockey stick! Add a few more dimmer stars to the hockey stick, and you get Jaws. Credit to Glenn Chaple who made this observation in Astronomy’s March 2014 issue. Since I’m an avid hockey fan and play from time to time, I vote hockey stick.

The actual double consists of a 9th magnitude yellow main-sequence star, while the secondary white star lies an ample 66 arcseconds away. In reference to the hockey stick, the double star is the blade, and the handle is made of two other equally bright stars.

By the way, after a visit to Struve 1664, don’t miss out on another nice asterism called the Stargate Cluster. It lies nearby in the constellation Corvus.

My Observations

I’m really enjoying the uniqueness of Struve 1664. A warm yellow primary star falls in line with two other white equally bright stars. A dimmer secondary in the middle breaks a line of white stars. And yes, one could take this star pattern for a small hockey stick. There are about 5-6 dimmer stars trailing off that I believe make the shark.

Key Stats

Constellation	Virgo
Best Viewing	Spring
Visual Magnitude	+9.06, +11.52
Separation	66.5″
Position Angle	340°
Spectral Class	Primary=G35V (yellow star)
Absolute Visual Magnitude	+4.30
Distance from Earth	292 ly
Milky Way Location	Orion Spur
My Viewing Grade	B
Designations	HD 109874, SAO 157410, HIP 61654

Sources and Notes

Banner illustration was created by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and is under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Per ESO agreement: Here is the original image on the ESO website.

Sketch by Wayne McGraw