Epsilon Boötis
By Bill Arnett

In the June 96 S&T (p 69), Sissy Haas writes that while she is able to split Epsilon Boötis with a small refractor she has always failed with a large Dob. Well, I tried it tonight with my (recently fixed :-) 12" LX200 and had no difficulty splitting it. The sky was only moderately steady (and horribly bright with the moon and the city lights; less critical for double viewing) but Epsilon Boo was in the least bad part of the sky near the zenith. I didn't see it at 100x but at 300x it was pretty easy once I got a good focus. Its not the easiest 2.8 arc second double I've seen but I'm a rank beginner at double observing and I split it cleanly the first try.

It has nice color contrast with the primary orange and the secondary blue, sort of like a closer, dimmer version of Albireo (Beta Cygni).

BTW, Epsilon Boo doesn't seem to have an SAO number. Why is that?