TRIPLE STARS FOR SMALL TELESCOPES with SynScan

This table lists triple stars that can be found using the catalogues available in the SynScan go-to telescope control system with small telescopes.

Catalogues available in SynScan version SSHCV4-F-141105V1-EN :-

NGC = New General Catalogue          IC = Index Catalogues       M = Messier objects

C = Caldwell catalogue         SAO = Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory catalog

Background to the development of this table  :

I love to see double stars in the night sky, but even more I like triples.  Some of these will be  3 suns going around each other kept together by gravity.  How would planets behave in these systems ?  What would we see if we were on one ?

I have a list of triples from the Popular Astronomy magazine published in Oct/Dec 2006 page 17 “Close stellar delights” by Mike Inglis, and have tried to use it now and then, with my old no-computer mount.

Recently I treated myself to a computerised mount, an HEQ5 with SynScan.  The version of SynScan I have includes the Catalogues listed above.  Mike Inglis gives the Aitken Double Star Catalogue (ADS) numbers for his best triples.  The table gives triple Names from Mike Inglis, with catalogue numbers found by searching on ADS numbers in the huge SIMBAD database, see 

http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-fid      SIMBAD holds many different Identities and other data on individual stars, using many catalogues etc.

Please note : So far have not been able to verify by observations that these catalogue references do yield triple stars.  But I hope to use them in the coming months, clouds permitting.   Please will anyone using the table let me know how you got on ?  My email is <nitram82@whillock.me.uk>

Martin Whillock  January 2017. 

York Astronomical Society member and U3A national Astronomy Adviser.

Many thanks for reviews and comments from John Rowland, John McCue, Callum Potter and David Cotterell before publication.