viewed some doubles (Union)

At one point, while watching TV, I looked out the west-facing window and saw the Moon. Headed out to Mom's observatory with netbook.

Instrument: Edmund Scientific 6-inch Newtonian
Mount: equatorial
Method: star hopping

12:38 AM. Plugged in the red LED Christmas lights. Started the setup of the telescope. Attached the mount to the pier. Eyeballed north and tightened it down. Installed the Newtonian to the mount. Added the counter-weights. And my Celestron 26mm. Went smoothly. Put the chair out. There were some clouds in the distance. Not perfect skies.

The Telrad was a little finicky. At first I thought it was bad batteries. Proved to be a loose connection.

Couldn't find a power cord. Headed to the garage for an extension cord. While near the house, I'd grab astronomy box α.

Viewed the Moon to verify the alignment of the finder and get the telescope at focus. It was nearly full. Aged 9.7 days according to SkyTools. Around 78% phase according to my location portal page. Viewed, briefly, some craters. Went to Mizar/Alcor to monitor tracking.

On the netbook, shut down Starry Night (had been testing/reviewing earlier in the evening). Started up SkyTools 3. Was not getting a wifi signal, unfortunately. Had previously built an (ambitious) observing list. 123 items. With priority. I sorted by Observation priority column. That said, some the items were for entertainment purposes, showpieces, for family viewing. Donna and Steve had left about an hour previous. Mom was in bed.

Sorted by priority. The first suggestion was the Winter Albireo aka HR 2764. Since I wasn't trying to impress anyone I moved on. Next up was double star 32 Eridani—from the RASC Coloured Double Stars list. Reviewed the digital atlas. It was in-line with Menkar or α (alpha) Ceti or to Rigel β (beta) and then Saiph κ (kappa) Orionis. Between Menkar and Rigel, almost in the middle.

Checked the tracking. Neither Mizar or Alcor were in the field. Turned out I still at the lock on. Released it.

I kept noticing a "Scope Not Connected" message in the ST3 atlas. It was distracting. 

Moon was close to Menkar. Around 16 or 17 degrees apart. I thought 32 Eri might be tricky. Not a lot of bright stars for star hopping. Finally set the correct location and telescope. Checked the field of view. Decided to wing it.

Checked the tracking again. It was not bad. It was off a little. Probably due to the polar alignment.

Aimed in the general area. Kicked myself for not having binoculars. Compared the atlas views.

Found a tight double star after some panning. Looked yellow and orange. The Observer's Handbook described the 32 Eri double as topaz and blue. So, that didn't sound right. More checking and cross-checking.

1:26. (48 minutes.) Someone's car alarm went off.

I was getting frustrated. I wondered if I was going about this the wrong way. Swearing. Did a meridian flip.

1:38. I had definitely found 32 Eri. Just a coincidence. Spotted a little, stretched or flattened diamond pattern. RST 4760B, close to HIP 71855, dim stars. Fainter. HD 23876. Headed a bit south. I definitely thought it the correct colours. Topaz or yellow with a pale blue. Not an intense blue. Easily split at low power (47x). Bumped the power (68x) with the 18mm Meade ocular (after removing the spacer ring).

Haas describes this showcase pair as grapefruit orange and silvery blue. Smyth says they are topaz yellow and sea green.

After reviewing the double more closely, I saw a faint star, in-line, to the north. In an L-shape of stars. Turned out that this mag 11.6 star, at the apex, was another companion, the C star. Cool! A triple, Σ470 (Struve). ST3 showed the tip of the L, the mag 9 star, was over top a mag 14.6 galaxy (MCG-1-10-46), which I did not see. Not a good target to show people...

Still, my first double in Eridanus.

1:42. The stars seemed dimmer. Perhaps the elevation was becoming a factor. Clouds.

Next up was 38 Geminorum. More clouds though. Could not see either of the Bears...

1:49. Swung over to Jupiter. Seeing was really good but the transparency was bad. Good detail. Thin dark band, near one of the equatorial bands. North hemisphere. Almost a Sagitta pattern to the moons. Europa and Callisto were close together. Spotted a faint star, HD 28137, near Ganymede, to the west, almost in-line with the moons.

Conditions improved a bit. But could not see the GRS. A decent view.

Tried again for 38 Gem. Off the left foot, not far from γ (gamma) and ξ (xi). Sky to the south got a lot better. Wondered where to jump off from.

Struggled a bit with the view being offered in ST3, the "hopping" view, with the 3 panels. It was not showing many stars. Part of it was that the software was showing a star HIP 33202 and, for a moment, I thought this was not the correct star. That's actually the designation of the B star. Why would SkyTools do that? Regardless, I planned my Telrad hop...

Needed my large flashlight and couldn't find it. Used deep red.

Was feeling a little chilled. Not too bad. But I wanted to activate the heater in the studio. Couldn't find the remote control for the fireplace. Mom had put it somewhere strange. Who knows where. Could even been in the house... And after a long search, very frustrated, I gave up. Spoiled my mood.

2:11. Gave up on the heater search. Headed back to the deck. Streamer clouds covered the sky. I was upset. Put the weather station outside. Took another look. It was only clear around Canis Major.

2:18. Didn't feel like sucker hole chasing (with a push-to and a Telrad). Decided to quit. Started the tear down. Dropped the mount, before removing the counter weights. No damage, it seems. Lucky.

2:27. The Oregon sensor showed 61% and 3.2°.

Saw the whole constellation of Leo, rising.

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I had had it on my list to install the optical finder scope, the old Celestron, to her tube. Never got 'round to it.

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Forgot to do time stamps (or splitting) with the Sony recorder. Forgot to bring out red keyboard light.