Struve 649 is a double star featuring a fairly bright primary white-blue colored star with a dimmer blue companion nearby. This quaint pair lies in the constellation Eridanus, the river, best viewed in winter. With the wealth of double stars and deep-sky objects in popular constellations in winter, it may be easy to pass over the southern celestial hemisphere constellation Eridanus. But you should for sure pay the river a visit as it has several nice objects, including Struve 649, which astronomer William Herschel first recorded on October 27, 1781.1
The primary star in Struve 649 is a variable star lingering around the 5th magnitude. This blue-white star has a stellar classification of B8V. At a friendly distance of 21.3 arcseconds away, the secondary star is more blue in color and is much dimmer at a magnitude of +9. This nice pair makes their home 681 light years away from us. Notably, these two stars are not physically related, so they don’t orbit a common center of mass.
My Observations
Date | November 24, 2023 |
Time | 10:36 p.m. |
Location | Seattle, WA |
Magnification | 169x |
Scope | Meade 8″ SCT |
Eyepiece | 12mm |
Seeing | Above Average |
Transparency | Above Average |
My fingers are tightening up a bit as I sketch this double. This late November night has brought on some beautiful skies along with a freezing night. Come on, fingers, don’t fail me now! While this double is not really remarkable, I do like how the bright white-blue primary shines beside a fairly dim blue companion. These two stars are easily split as well.
Key Stats
Constellation | Eridanus |
Best Viewing | Winter |
Visual Magnitude | +5.8 | +9 |
Separation | 21.3″ |
Position Angle | 69.3° |
Spectral Class | B8V |
Milky Way Location | Orion Spur |
My Viewing Grade | B- |
Designations | STF 649, SAO 131806, HD 33224, HR 1671 |
Sources and Notes
Banner adapted from an illustration created by Pablo Budassi. The illustration is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Full details here.
1 William Herschel’s double star catalog. (n.d.). https://www.handprint.com/ASTRO/Herschel_All.html
Sketch by Wayne McGraw