Instrument: Celestron 8-inch SCT
Mount: Vixen Super Polaris
Method: star hop, tracking motor
Had been thinking about the book some of the RASC members recently purchased together. At first I could not remember the title and sent a message to Phil. But then I started to remember details. After some googling, I found it, Objects in the Heavens. I had looked at the book briefly at the CAO and kept thinking back on it. It would be a good book for the kind of observing I was trying to do, by constellation...Mount: Vixen Super Polaris
Method: star hop, tracking motor
In lieu of this book, I thought I'd use double stars for small telescopes with Pocket Sky Atlas and simply choose some of the interesting suggestions. I put some fresh AA batteries in the loupe.
Tonight, I activated the Stellarium server apps, to simulate the finder scope field (5°) as well as the 36mm (1°).
7:54 PM, 7 Oct 2011. It was warmer tonight.
I went to a bright orange star in the south west: Antares? Nope. Yed Prior aka δ (delta). Ah. So it was Ophiuchus that I was seeing through the tree branches. Yed Prior and Posterius aka ε (epsilon). There was a little triangle of bright stars nearby. Prior is an M star. Wow. Cool colour.
OK, let's look for stuff in Cepheus, I thought. The King was high in the sky (although over the houses). Chose a target from dsfst book: ES 137. SkyTools3 referred to it as HD 203374.
8:09 PM. The tracking looking pretty good tonight. I added the eyepiece heater.
It was an easy star hop from α (alpha) Cep, aka Alderamin. I saw a medium bright yellow star in the centre of the field. There's a faint star nearby. Perhaps it was a companion. A modest split, at low power, at 55x, with the baader eyepiece. I tried to determine if the companion to the brighter yellow star was blue? It was hard to tell.
There was another pair, about half-way (half-way?!) to the field stop, at a 90 degree angle. I wondered if they were related.
Went to the 26mm, the Celestron ocular, producing 77x. I could easily see a third star, near to the fainter pair. This very faint star made a pair parallel to the bright ones. Haas says ES137 is a pair. ST3 shows it is a quad. Haas also says the primary is white and the secondary is "misty." Misty? The AB pair are 45" apart. The primary is mag 6.7; the companion is 10.0. The C star seemed doable but I did not spot it. The D star is impossible. Too close. Less than ½ a degree.
8:35. I checked the conditions. 71%, 15.4°, flat pressure, rain clouds. Indeed. It was 5 degrees warmer tonight.
Went to the 9mm Nagler. The seeing was bad again. I simply could not see a companion to B. But then, I could not crisply see B. Move on. The target was done, for the dsfst book; I'd need dark steady skies to pluck out the C star anyways.
8:38. I looked for another suggestion, from Haas's book: β (beta)! Hold on. I already did Alfirk. Earlier this week. Hadn't got 'round to checking off these recent accomplishments in the book.
8:59. I viewed Σ2816 (Struve) then. ST3 calls this HR 8281. Curiously, this main star does not have the Σ designation in the SkyTools software.
[ed: aka BU 1143.]
Wow! A very cool triple, with a medium tight double nearby! A lovely view in the 1 degree field. The main star was white. Maybe with a touch of yellow. The companion to the north, the bright one, slightly further, was dull yellow. That was the D star, according to ST3. Haas noted it as a triple. It is curious she calls it a triple but notes the AC and AD pairings. That is to say, it's a quadruple system, at a minimum.
[ed: Edited 8 Sep '20 for error in direction with C star.]
The fainter star to the south-west south-east was a darker yellow, hints of orange. That was C. Haas says that 2816 is a white star flanked by green and violet stars. She was high again during this one...
[ed: Becomes obvious why HR 8281 doesn't have a Struve designation in the WDS catalog—different people reported this system. Burnham reported the AB pair. Struve catalogued C and D. Still others reported the D and E stars. Recently another pair was added, MIA 2 Aa-Ab.]
[ed: Becomes obvious why HR 8281 doesn't have a Struve designation in the WDS catalog—different people reported this system. Burnham reported the AB pair. Struve catalogued C and D. Still others reported the D and E stars. Recently another pair was added, MIA 2 Aa-Ab.]
The B star is in the mag 13 range and very tight. No chance for that one. Not here, not now.
I could also see a very faint star (mag 12.2) to the south, about 4 times the distance of AC.
The nearby double is Σ2819 aka HD 206482. Yellow and orange stars.
No way... I could see the faint pair to the right. The bright star was mag 11.4; the other one was mag 12.8 although ST3 says this is "poor quality" data.
Anyway, that was pretty cool. A triple and a double in the middle of a large cluster, IC 1396. Not far from the Garnet star.
9:30. I wanted to try for Σ2843. Holy cow. Fantastically tight pair. Had to go to the 18mm Meade to get a clean split. The seeing was making this difficult. It was hard to focus. Two equally bright stars? Was the southern one slightly fainter? ST3 says they're both 6.4 mag. Or are the colours slightly different? Hold on. When I choose the A star, aka HR 8361, ST3 says the companion is 1.50" away and is mag 7.4. Yeah. That made sense. They both look the same colour to me, white, or white-yellow.
ST3 says this is a triple. The C star is far away. It's faint at mag 9.9. Let's see if I can spot it...
9:49. Yep. I could see the mag 10 companion, star C. It was the closest of the faint stars...
The humidity was rising. It was 77%. The temp was dropping slowly. 14.5°.
10:05. Jupiter went into the little gap. I tried the 36, 26, then 18 eyepieces. It was a nice view. Tried my right eye. I can never seem to use it was well. Suddenly, I remembered the bino viewer!
Wow! What a view. Lot's of detail. The GRS was right (west) of the meridian, toward the more separated moons. There seemed to be a bright region to the left, triangle shaped. I think I saw a dark shape in the left (ease) side of the north belt. The view wasn't too bad, actually, as it slipped behind the leaves. the contrast improved...
OK. Back to doubles...
Tried to get to ξ (xi) Cep but took a wrong turn.
10:33. Kurhah or Alkurhah aka ξ is a pretty double near a loose gaggle of stars. Started with the 36mm but then jumped immediately to the bino viewer with the 20mm wide angles. Very nice. At low power, I wondered if the partner was blue. The main star was light yellow. After staring for a long time, at the higher power, I decided the companion was the same colour. But it's a mag or two fainter. ST3 says 4.3 and 6.6. Cool. It's a known binary. The period of the B star might be around 3800 years! ST3 says there's a third star that should be visible: it's pretty far away. I didn't bother.
That was a nice target. Easy to find in the middle of Cepheus.
10:51. Oh. Almost 80% moisture. Temp had dropped to 13.7.
OK. I think I'm on σ (sigma) Cas... Part of a large triangle. Lots of field stars around... And the lazy trapezoid of orange and blue stars.. So?
11:05. No joy with bino viewer. Went down to 18mm. Still no luck. I could not split the main star. This target was from TLAO. The book says it is a "challenging double." No kidding. I'll need air steadier than this.
11:10. I took another peek with the 18mm. And I saw it! The faint orange companion to the white main star. Then it was gone! Then back! I quickly put in the bino with the 20mm oculars. A gooey mess. Back to the 18. And every once in a while I'd see it. So, again, a victim of bad seeing. I don't think I'll log this as seen.
11:18. Next! I headed off to ψ (psi) Cas.
And kept going the wrong way!
11:40. Finally. Tagged ψ. Nice. It was easily separated at 55x. ST3 says they're 22" apart. A bright primary and faint secondary. It reminded me a little of Polaris, with respect to differences in brightness. ST3 says 5 mags difference.
[ed: Polaris is about the same sep but the stars are different by 7 magnitudes.]
The main star was light gold. The companion waffles between deep blue and green! Amazing colour differences. It would not tolerate magnification higher than 77. ST3 says there's a mag 14 companion, at about 2.5". The AB pair. No way.
Was this all for me tonight? I felt a little tired from four nights straight... And I was noodling on going to the David Dunlap Observatory tomorrow to help out...
OK. One more task, I thought. Let's touch up the collimation. I used Deneb. I loosened one screw about 1/8th of a turn. There. Much better now. Looked at Altair. Stared at the in-focus and out-focus patterns. They looked good. It was difficult seeing the diffraction rings clearly at focus in the unstable air.
12:13 AM, 8 Oct 2011. The rapid shutdown was complete. Kitty wanted company. I was definitely tired. My back was a little sore.
I could also see a very faint star (mag 12.2) to the south, about 4 times the distance of AC.
The nearby double is Σ2819 aka HD 206482. Yellow and orange stars.
No way... I could see the faint pair to the right. The bright star was mag 11.4; the other one was mag 12.8 although ST3 says this is "poor quality" data.
Anyway, that was pretty cool. A triple and a double in the middle of a large cluster, IC 1396. Not far from the Garnet star.
9:30. I wanted to try for Σ2843. Holy cow. Fantastically tight pair. Had to go to the 18mm Meade to get a clean split. The seeing was making this difficult. It was hard to focus. Two equally bright stars? Was the southern one slightly fainter? ST3 says they're both 6.4 mag. Or are the colours slightly different? Hold on. When I choose the A star, aka HR 8361, ST3 says the companion is 1.50" away and is mag 7.4. Yeah. That made sense. They both look the same colour to me, white, or white-yellow.
ST3 says this is a triple. The C star is far away. It's faint at mag 9.9. Let's see if I can spot it...
9:49. Yep. I could see the mag 10 companion, star C. It was the closest of the faint stars...
The humidity was rising. It was 77%. The temp was dropping slowly. 14.5°.
10:05. Jupiter went into the little gap. I tried the 36, 26, then 18 eyepieces. It was a nice view. Tried my right eye. I can never seem to use it was well. Suddenly, I remembered the bino viewer!
Wow! What a view. Lot's of detail. The GRS was right (west) of the meridian, toward the more separated moons. There seemed to be a bright region to the left, triangle shaped. I think I saw a dark shape in the left (ease) side of the north belt. The view wasn't too bad, actually, as it slipped behind the leaves. the contrast improved...
OK. Back to doubles...
Tried to get to ξ (xi) Cep but took a wrong turn.
10:33. Kurhah or Alkurhah aka ξ is a pretty double near a loose gaggle of stars. Started with the 36mm but then jumped immediately to the bino viewer with the 20mm wide angles. Very nice. At low power, I wondered if the partner was blue. The main star was light yellow. After staring for a long time, at the higher power, I decided the companion was the same colour. But it's a mag or two fainter. ST3 says 4.3 and 6.6. Cool. It's a known binary. The period of the B star might be around 3800 years! ST3 says there's a third star that should be visible: it's pretty far away. I didn't bother.
That was a nice target. Easy to find in the middle of Cepheus.
10:51. Oh. Almost 80% moisture. Temp had dropped to 13.7.
OK. I think I'm on σ (sigma) Cas... Part of a large triangle. Lots of field stars around... And the lazy trapezoid of orange and blue stars.. So?
11:05. No joy with bino viewer. Went down to 18mm. Still no luck. I could not split the main star. This target was from TLAO. The book says it is a "challenging double." No kidding. I'll need air steadier than this.
11:10. I took another peek with the 18mm. And I saw it! The faint orange companion to the white main star. Then it was gone! Then back! I quickly put in the bino with the 20mm oculars. A gooey mess. Back to the 18. And every once in a while I'd see it. So, again, a victim of bad seeing. I don't think I'll log this as seen.
11:18. Next! I headed off to ψ (psi) Cas.
And kept going the wrong way!
11:40. Finally. Tagged ψ. Nice. It was easily separated at 55x. ST3 says they're 22" apart. A bright primary and faint secondary. It reminded me a little of Polaris, with respect to differences in brightness. ST3 says 5 mags difference.
[ed: Polaris is about the same sep but the stars are different by 7 magnitudes.]
The main star was light gold. The companion waffles between deep blue and green! Amazing colour differences. It would not tolerate magnification higher than 77. ST3 says there's a mag 14 companion, at about 2.5". The AB pair. No way.
Was this all for me tonight? I felt a little tired from four nights straight... And I was noodling on going to the David Dunlap Observatory tomorrow to help out...
OK. One more task, I thought. Let's touch up the collimation. I used Deneb. I loosened one screw about 1/8th of a turn. There. Much better now. Looked at Altair. Stared at the in-focus and out-focus patterns. They looked good. It was difficult seeing the diffraction rings clearly at focus in the unstable air.
12:13 AM, 8 Oct 2011. The rapid shutdown was complete. Kitty wanted company. I was definitely tired. My back was a little sore.
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