The Spirit of 33 You know you are a double star observer when…

In doubt if you’re a double star observer?. Maybe some buddy stargazers are telling you everyday but you seem not to realize. Ok, read on and discover 33 powerful truths…

By Otto Piechowsky, Cor Berrevoets, Mary Flanagan, Bob HogeVeen, Paolo Morini, Rafael Barberá, Thad Robosson, Glen Chapman, Luis Argüelles, Bill Becker and Richard Harschaw.

You know you are a double star observer when your favourite motor-bike is a “classic” BMW.

You know you are a double star observer when your sons are always twins.

You know you are a double star observer when your name is a perfect double palindrome (OT TO).

You know you are a double star observer when you think single stars are odd.

You know you are a double star observer when you understand why uneven quantities are called odd.

You know you are a double star observer when your baseball team of choice is the Minnesota Twins.

You know you are a double star observer when you catch yourself trying to guesstimate the PA between a pair of distant streetlights.

You know you are a double star observer when you can drink your coffee only with you personal cup. [See image!]

 

You know you are a double star observer when going down the road at night, you estimate the PA and Sep. for the car headlights coming towards you.

You know you are a double star observer when you start trying to measure the spectral class of the headlights of an oncoming car.

You know you are a double star observer when you watch an old movie – as the hero is dying in the fore-ground, you are trying to figure out the brand of telescope in the back-ground.

You know you are a double star observer when you start trying to measure PA and separations of double stars in M33 – with binoculars.

You know you are a double star observer when you advise the WDS that the orbital elements of one of their spectroscopic binaries is wrong – using naked eye observations.

You know you are a double star observer when you observe Alpha Centauri in daylight – just wondering if you can split the double – don’t laugh someone tried – and succeeded.

You know you are a double star observer when you complain that you cannot complete your observing list on Scorpio because the target star is embedded in the tail of a 1st magnitude comet who’s tail extends over 105 degrees of the sky.

You know you are a double star observer when you attempt to complete your Orion observing list during a solar eclipse.

You know you are a double star observer when you arrange you Christmas holidays at the northpole – so you can maximise your observing time.

You know you are a double star observer when you become angry that Rigel went supernova before you could complete your PA observation of the companion.

You know you are a double star observer when you cannot understand why science cannot build an 87 inch refractor.

You know you are a double star observer when you ask if the Hubble space telescope could be fitted with a micro-guide – and offer to pay for it.

You know you are a double star observer when you have twin children and you call them Castor A and Castor Bc.

You know you are a double star observer when you feel happy when a company makes a split from their stocks.

You know you are a double star observer if you own a Zeiss Telementor (yes, there are suspicions you’re also a planetary observer!).

You know you are a double star observer when your CCD system has never imaged a nebula or galaxy and you geometrically study every image it produces.

You know you are a double star observer when the entire Hipparcos and WDS catalogues are only a mouse-click away in your computer.

You know you are a double star observer when you are trying to predict the orbital parameters of the Messier craters but think that more data is probably needed.

You know you are a double star observer when you try to constantly determine position angle on everything from Saturnian moons to periods at the end of sentences.

You know you are a double star observer when you ask yourself what is that strange, enormous object located in the middle of that interesting, short period multiple system called Jovian Moons.

You know you are a double star observer when you own a Bianci “double”-cycle.

You know you are a double star observer when you are always splitting hairs in arguments.

You know you are a double star observer when you resolve problem issues best when the moon is new.

You know you are a double star observer when your brain’s left and right hemispheres are separated by a clear strip of blackness.

You know you are a double star observer when you see a project table and instantly spot a DI that you know something’s wrong.

You know you are a double star observer when you can calculate LADIC’s in your head.

You know you are a double star observer when you are looking at a double star in your FOV!