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SS6 Double Star Catalog Inconsistency

Sky Safari 6 Plus for Android.

If I search for most double stars, the app returns a list of two entries. For example 61 Cygni gives one saying mag 5.2, the other 6.1. In this case, both records have the same WDS reference but differ in their HD reference. But with other examples like Wasat, the catalog entries appear to be identical, so I'm thinking this is not simply a case of catalog variation.

When searching for other doubles, for example 16 Cygni, only a single record is matched (and so it is displayed automatically) - this record does not contain the magnitude in its title, but does list the magnitudes of both components in the Visual Magnitude Section. But then others like Miram have a single record too, yet that does display the magnitude (of one of the components) in the title.

For planning, and especially for recording observations, I would much prefer to have the doubles as a single entry in Sky Safari. Where there are multiple records I try always to attach observations to the brighter component, but inevitably I go astray sometimes (or the components sometimes have equal magnitudes) and then the observations get split and I have to go backwards and forwards.

Are you aware of this inconsistency in the way that doubles appear in the database, and are you able correct it please?

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    Jamie Andrews

    I recently upgraded to SS7 so I thought I'd update this comment/request.

    In the object information display, SS7 now includes a "Components" section that gives the magnitude, separation and PA for each pairwise combination in a multiple star system (which, in the case of complex systems, can run to many lines).

    Thanks for this - from a planning and observing perspetive this is a BIG improvement on the SS6 approach - where there was only one relationship shown per record, and it could sometimes be difficult to decide which components you were actually seeing in the eyepiece. If there are multiple SS records for a system, you get the full picture whichever one you're looking at.

    However, my point above about recording observations still stands - the example stars I gave for SS6 have the same records in SS7, so in some cases it would still be possible to attach observations to different components of the same system, leading to a fragmented observing history.

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