8 august 2025

Another night of predicted good seeing, which was more or less correct.  Observed with the 20-inch again from 10:30pm to midnight.  I observed one super close CDSA piar, but have exhausted my CDSA and movement pair lists for this part of the sky -- fall weather usually being the clearest and with best seeing -- so I observed from a red star list.  Most appeared light yellow or orange to me, though the color was stronger with more magnification.  I used the 7-inch mask for most of these as the star images were much cleaner.  While the colored stars are pretty to look at, my descriptions are a rather uninspired record of their color only.

AGC 10 AB: 508; 1270x: Light orange unequal stars, hairline split 1016x and up.  Wide fainter blue star nearby to west (STF 2570 AB-C).   No Gaia parallax data for the primary but given their closeness an orbit can be tried.

19h 44m 56.78s +10° 46' 30.6" P.A. 137.00 sep 0.2 mag 8.43,8.42 Sp B3IV-V dist. 170.94 pc (557.61 l.y.)

36 Aql: bright light yellow 

BLL  37: light orange 

BLL  38: light yellow orange 

HD 181330: light orange 

HD 183868: white 

HD 186548: must be the fainter star in between two brighter white stars, since it's the only one with color, light orange

HD 187150: light yellow orange 

HD 187238: very light orange 

HD 189114: pale orange 

S  Vul: faint pale red, color shows a little better with magnification 

STF2521: fairly bright light orange, wide companion 

STF2532: light orange easy wide faint companion 

STF2566: very pale yellow 

T  Sge: faint light orange 

V1293 Aql: light yellow 

V342 Sge: pale orange 

V389 Vul: pale orange 

5 august 2025

Predicted above average seeing so I opened the 20-inch and observed from 10:30pm-12:30am.  Seeing was pretty good, so I went for some movement pairs, but rather than improving through the night seeing became choppier.  So, I switched back and forth with the 7-inch mask.  Transparency was poor, and a haze slowly grew thicker as the night continued, with some dew.

B 430 AB: 508; 1270x: Single all powers.  No Gaia parallax data.  SOC grade 2 orbit, now at periastron 0.197", not in my reach.

19h 15m 32.40s -25° 15' 23.8" P.A. 104.00 sep 0.2 mag 5.50,5.70 Sp A8V+G8III dist. 91.49 pc (298.44 l.y.)

STFA 38 AD: 178; 140x: Zeta 2 Lyr.  1 Dm, wide, slight green tint.  83% PRO, 2119 AU WS, 2.5+1.8 Msol, RVD 1.2 < EV 1.9, and 0.05 PMV, it is possibly binary and needs an orbit.  All the Burnham faint stars in this family have vastly differing parallax, they are not binary.

18h 44m 46.36s +37° 36' 18.4" P.A. 150.00 sep 43.7 mag 4.34,5.62 Sp F0IVv dist. 47.69 pc (155.56 l.y.)

BU 1127 AB: 178; 280x: Overlapping disks, 2 Dm.  Currently 0.677", not quite resolvable (should have tried even higher magnification).  No Gaia data for the secondary, an orbit should be tried.

18h 02m 30.89s +44° 14' 02.6" P.A. 39.00 sep 0.7 mag 7.31,9.20 Sp F5V dist. 81.3 pc (265.2 l.y.)

BU 1202 AB: 508; 1270x: Elongated most powers until I can get two photocenters at high power, white stars.  It was 0.656" in 2013, difficult to say it would have closed below my Dawes limit so quickly, unless I observed the wrong star.  An orbit can be tried.  No Gaia data for the secondary.

18h 01m 32.36s +03° 31' 27.4" P.A. 344.00 sep 0.7 mag 8.67,9.69 Sp A0 dist. 246.91 pc (805.42 l.y.)

HU  235 AB: 178; 280x: Very fine close split, 3 Dm.  35% PRO, 121 AU WS, 1.8+1,0 Msol, 0.05 PMV, it is possibly binary and needs an orbit tried.

17h 57m 05.08s +45° 51' 21.4" P.A. 289.00 sep 1.8 mag 6.88,9.04 Sp F7IV dist. 70.03 pc (228.44 l.y.)

 

LDS6413 AB: 508; 140x: Superwide, need to pan the scope.  B is 11-12 mag.  -17% PRO, it is not binary.

18h 00m 38.89s +29° 34' 18.9" P.A. 105.00 sep 88.1 mag 7.08,13.10 Sp G2V+M dist. 28.36 pc (92.51 l.y.)

MLR 571 AB: 508; 1270x: Single all powers.  No Gaia data for secondary.  SOC grade 3 orbit, 71-year period, periastron in 2045 at 0.18"

17h 33m 31.60s +57° 33' 31.4" P.A. 330.00 sep 0.1 mag 7.23,6.87 Sp A5V+G5III dist. 250 pc (815.5 l.y.)

STF2161 AB: 178; 140x: 1 Dm, very slight green tint to each star, well separated. -41% PRO, it is not binary.

17h 23m 40.97s +37° 08' 45.3" P.A. 321.00 sep 4.0 mag 4.50,5.40 Sp B9.5III dist. 120.63 pc (393.5 l.y.)

STF2245 BA: 178; 140x: White, unequal stars, good split.  -74% PRO, it is not binary.  

17h 56m 24.24s +18° 19' 38.1" P.A. 112.00 sep 2.7 mag 7.43,7.55 Sp A0III dist. 240.96 pc (786.01 l.y.)

STF2264 AB: 178; 140x: 95 Her.  Bright well separated, unequal, both light yellow, the fainter star a slightly richer yellow.  95% PRO, 842 AU WS, 3.6+3.6 Msol, RVD 0.6 < EV 3.9, PMV 0.08, it is likely binary and needs an orbit.

18h 01m 30.41s +21° 35' 44.8" P.A. 255.00 sep 6.4 mag 4.85,5.20 Sp A5IIIn dist. 127.88 pc (417.14 l.y.)

STF2282 AB: 178; 140x: Unequal, well split.  Missed opportunity, BC is a 0.2" pair, need to reobserve.

18h 06m 30.47s +40° 21' 39.6" P.A. 83.00 sep 2.7 mag 7.93,9.43 Sp A1V dist. 512.82 pc (1672.82 l.y.)

STF2384 AB: 508; 560x: Fine white pair, 1 Dm, good split at high powers, suspected double at lower powers. No Gaia data for the secondary.  SOC grade 3 orbit 133-year period, it is widening toward >0.8" periastron in the 2070s. 

18h 38m 23.66s +67° 07' 35.6" P.A. 307.00 sep 0.4 mag 8.31,8.95 Sp G5 dist. 53.82 pc (175.56 l.y.)

STF3127 AB: 178; 280x: Light blue-green stars, split low to high, large Dm.  -94% PRO, it is not binary.  It's odd that such disparate stars appear the same odd color

17h 15m 01.92s +24° 50' 22.5" P.A. 291.00 sep 13.8 mag 3.12,8.30 Sp A3IV dist. 23.04 pc (75.16 l.y.)

STF3129 AB: 178; 140x: Easy wide 3 Dm pair.  -14% PRO, it is not binary.

18h 01m 07.16s +45° 21' 03.3" P.A. 168.00 sep 30.8 mag 7.59,10.64 Sp B9 dist. 132.28 pc (431.5 l.y.)

STT 331 AB: 178; 280x: Lovely close split, >1 Dm.  8% PRO, 520 AU WS, 3.6+2.9 Msol, 0.05 PMV, it is possible to be binary and an orbit can be tried.

17h 32m 02.86s +02° 49' 25.4" P.A. 353.00 sep 1.0 mag 7.74,8.82 Sp B5V dist. 476.19 pc (1553.33 l.y.)

STT 341 AB: 508; 560x: Excellent close split, light dull yellow stars, 1 Dm, near a pretty arc of similar magnitude stars.  No Gaia parallax data.  SOC grade 2 orbit 20-year period, it is widening to periastron in 2029, moving from ESE to SE PA.

18h 05m 49.72s +21° 26' 45.6" P.A. 89.00 sep 0.3 mag 7.39,8.82 Sp G0V+G5V dist. 39.45 pc (128.69 l.y.)

STT 344 AB: 178; 390x: Very fine split, large delta, faint B.  -46% PRO, it is not binary.

18h 07m 06.29s +49° 42' 37.6" P.A. 140.00 sep 2.3 mag 6.47,10.31 Sp A2V dist. 221.24 pc (721.68 l.y.)

STT 400 AB: 508; 560x: 1 Dm light orange stars, easy split, suspected low powers, split 280x, nicer view higher powers. No Gaia parallax for the secondary.  SOC grade 2 orbit, 85.61-year period, it is at periastron now and will rapidly close through the 2040s.

20h 10m 13.32s +43° 56' 44.2" P.A. 329.00 sep 0.7 mag 7.60,9.83 Sp G3V dist. 51.33 pc (167.44 l.y.)

 

4 august 2025

Some warning weather and with it an offshore wind to keep the marine layer marine.  Seeing was good for the 6-inch so that's what I used.  The sky was still hazy, so fainter stars were more difficult to see.  Only had an hour and a half out, but it felt nice to be back in the habit.  I have already observed almost all the CDSA list in the summer sky, so I switched to the Burnham list for many of the observations. 

BU 56 AB: 152; 250x: Excellent close pair, 1 Dm, just split with seeing.  2% PRO, 101 AU WS, 1.1+1.3 Msol, it is possibly binary and needs an orbit tried.

20h 05m 07.26s -04° 18' 29.3" P.A. 189.00 sep 1.3 mag 8.01,9.10 Sp F5 dist. 77.46 pc (252.67 l.y.)

BU 60 AB: 152; 175x: Bright white A and very faint close B. 60% PRO, 712 AU WS, 4.2+2.0 Msol, but 0.01 PMV.  It might be binary, and orbit can be tried.

20h 27m 19.20s -18° 12' 42.1" P.A. 148.00 sep 3.5 mag 5.13,8.53 Sp B8II-III dist. 167.22 pc (545.47 l.y.)

BU 62 AB: 152; 250x: Very finely split faint stars, near equal.  -18% PRO, 607 AU WS, 2.8+2.3 Msol, it is not likely binary.

20h 28m 00.64s +30° 08' 02.6" P.A. 133.00 sep 1.2 mag 8.70,9.79 Sp A0

BU 67 AB: 152; 250x: Overlapping disks, large Dm.  -8% PRO, 181 AU WS, 2.2+1.1 Msol, low 0.06 PMV, it is not likely binary.

20h 50m 36.05s +30° 54' 45.7" P.A. 311.00 sep 1.5 mag 6.85,9.87 Sp A8III dist. 120.05 pc (391.6 l.y.)

BU 68 AB: 152; 175x: Faint, unequal stars, closely split.  -10% PRO, 352 AU WS, 0.09 PMV, it is not likely binary.

20h 59m 28.27s +50° 12' 41.0" P.A. 149.00 sep 2.0 mag 9.20,9.68 Sp A5 dist. 184.16 pc (600.73 l.y.)

BU 154 AB: 152; 175x: Split with low power, better view higher, unequal, fairly close split.  60% PRO, 527 AU WS, 1.7+1.4 Msol, and RVD 1.0 < EV 3.2, 0.09 PMV.  It is likely binary (as opposed to StelleDoppie) and needs an orbit.

20h 52m 49.68s -16° 09' 54.5" P.A. 61.00 sep 3.0 mag 8.97,9.97 Sp G2V dist. 247.52 pc (807.41 l.y.)

BU  249 AB: 152; 250x: With seeing and high power only, white stars, large delta, very fine split.  No Gaia parallax data for companion.  Given how close it is, an orbit should be tried.

19h 38m 21.68s +00° 20' 43.6" P.A. 106.00 sep 0.8 mag 7.40,9.41 Sp A7IV dist. 106.16 pc (346.29 l.y.)

BU  423 AB: 152; 250x: Very faint, near equal, hazy view, with seeing.  93% PRO, 363 AU WS, 2.2+2.5 Msol, 0.05 PMV, it is possibly binary and needs an orbit.

19h 27m 51.67s -29° 29' 55.3" P.A. 127.00 sep 1.2 mag 8.58,8.89 Sp G0 dist. 251.26 pc (819.61 l.y.)

BU 425 AB: 152; 175x: Very fine split, near equal.  -20% PRO, it is not likely binary.

19h 57m 32.28s +20° 17' 40.1" P.A. 240.00 sep 1.4 mag 9.17,9.24 Sp B9 dist. 540.54 pc (1763.24 l.y.)

BU 442 AB: 152; 125x: Rich field in finder and main scope, arc of three stars.  42% PRO, 8,641 AU WS, 4.7+3.4 Msol, there is some chance it is binary, can orbit can be tried.

20h 16m 29.84s +37° 38' 35.4" P.A. 103.00 sep 18.3 mag 9.72,8.04 Sp B0III

BU 1475 AB: 152; 125x: Light orange A and well split B, 2 Dm.  66% PRO, 6,920 AU WS, 5.2+3.1 Msol, but RVD 2.6 > EV 1.5, it is not binary

19h 57m 53.70s -09° 03' 30.3" P.A. 113.00 sep 10.4 mag 7.77,9.47 Sp K2 dist. 247.52 pc (807.41 l.y.)

BU 1478 AB: 152; 125x: Wide B with averted vision only, compared to bright white A.   -70% PRO, it is not binary.

20h 03m 49.62s +14° 58' 58.8" P.A. 170.00 sep 28.6 mag 7.00,11.43 Sp G0Ia dist. 2380.95 pc (7766.66 l.y.)

H N 119 AB: 152; 125x: Bright yellow A and well split, faint 2 Dm light orange B.  64% PRO, 641 AU WS, 2.7+1.1 Msol, but RVD 3.9 > EV 3.3, and there is a low PMV 0.01, it is not likely binary.

19h 29m 52.18s -26° 59' 08.2" P.A. 144.00 sep 7.5 mag 5.61,8.82 Sp K2III dist. 71.74 pc (234.02 l.y.)

S 715 AB: 152; 125x: Wide 1 Dm white stars, seems to lie on the edge of a star field or open cluster.  55% PRO, 1165 AU WS, 2.3+1.9 Msol, but a slightly negative -0.08 PMV, it is possibly binary and needs an orbit.

19h 17m 39.96s -15° 58' 01.7" P.A. 17.00 sep 8.4 mag 7.07,7.90 Sp A3V dist. 132.8 pc (433.19 l.y.)

SCJ 22 AB: 152; 250x: Split with 125x, better seen with 175x & 250x.  Light yellow near equal close split.  -46% PRO, it should not be binary, but it is only 34 AU WS, 0.9+0.9, and a SOC grade 2 orbit.  Parallax may be error prone at near distances?  167-year period.

19h 28m 12.26s -12° 08' 40.7" P.A. 296.00 sep 1.2 mag 8.12,8.69 Sp G8V dist. 36.62 pc (119.45 l.y.)

STF2504 AB: 152; 125x: Lovely well split pair, 2 Dm, white A and light-yellow B.  13% PRO, 542 AU WS, 1.6+1.0, RVD 1.8 < EV 2.9, and 0.06 PMV, it is possibly binary and needs an orbit.

19h 20m 59.85s +19° 08' 43.4" P.A. 282.00 sep 8.7 mag 7.00,9.03 Sp F5V dist. 62.7 pc (204.53 l.y.)

STFB 10 A: 152; 125x:  Altair.  Very wide, need to pan scope.  No Gaia parallax data, anyone's guess.

19h 50m 46.99s +08° 52' 05.9" P.A. 286.00 sep 195.8 mag 0.95,9.82 Sp A7V dist. 5.13 pc (16.73 l.y.) 

28 july 2025

July has been a very poor observing month.  The whole summer has been unusually cool, with the marine layer blowing in each evening.  Good for comfort, bad for backyard astronomy.  This night was clear, but with poor transparency and average seeing.  Nonetheless there were two observations I needed to make, in response to posts I had seen on CN.

HU 575 AB: 508, 564x: A short period pair I've been following in my movement pair list.  This night it was suspected double at lower power but easily split with higher powers.  Unequal light orange stars.  When I compare this sketch to one made in May 2020, I notice considerable change in the PA, and that I needed far less magnification to split it (0.336" PA 71.4 in 2020, and 0.482" 25.4 in 2025).  

Next was the Cygnus Egg, RAFGL 2688, which someone raved how night vision had transformed the view.  Using my 20-inch, I observed it visually and with NV.  

Visually, the nebula appears like two small, faint elongated elliptical galaxies end to end with a small gap between, with the points nearest each other a little brighter.  The "wings" were narrow lines and faded at the opposing ends.  I needed 282x to darken the background sky for the "best view."  Adding a single polarizer, and spinning the eyepiece, helped marginally to bring out more glow.

Using the PVS-14 afocally with the 67mm Plossl+ (38x) and a 685 longpass filter did have a dramatic effect.  It was now a high surface brightness object and appeared like two comets with fan-shaped tails facing each other.  The brighter one appeared slightly larger and seemed to have a star at its inside tip; the other was fainter, with a shorter tail, its inside tip was brighter.  I did not notice any detail; the image scale was small.  I had a similar view unfiltered, but the background sky was brighter, and I preferred the filtered view.

I then used the PVS-14 in prime focus mode -- having removed the 1x objective and using threaded adapters to a 2-inch nosepiece and adding a 2x barlow to reach focus (195x).  Still with the 685 longpass, I had a similar view as afocal but at much larger image scale.  This time, I could see subtle, turbulent dark mottling inside both "wings," but I did not see it as a distinct "X" shape or as concentric rippling (as in the Hubble photos).  I did, however, have the sense of a extremely faint roundish, puffy cloud of nebula, some 3x the diameter of the wings and surrounding them -- but this could have just been background nebulous atmosphere.  Maybe this would show better at a dark site.

27 june 2025, movement pairs

Seeing was not exceptional, but it was good enough to open the 20-inch and go after some movement pairs -- after what seems like a long while.  Got started at 10:00pm and finished at 12:30am.  Seeing did improve through the night, and it felt great to be out observing these pairs no one else tries to see.

HU  481 AB" 508; 847x: Exceptionally fine pair, 2 Dm, PA to the southwest.  SOC grade 3 orbit, 119.5-year period, it will widen slightly in the next 20 years but remain in the southwest.    

16h 21m 14.74s +22° 59' 18.8" P.A. 237.00 sep 0.5 mag 8.21,10.04 Sp F8 dist. 66.18 pc (215.88 l.y.)

KUI  66 AB: 508; 508x: 15 Boo.  Using an apodising mask and viewing through the peephole in my eyepiece cap, with seeing only, I see very small, faint point of light inside the first diffraction ring, ESE PA, closely separated. Interesting the B star has a 10th magnitude companion!  which I did not see, of course.

14h 14m 50.85s +10° 06' 02.2" P.A. 111.00 sep 0.8 mag 5.44,8.43 Sp K1III dist. 81.23 pc (264.97 l.y.)

KUI  79 AB: 508; 508x: Excellent, nicely split, faint, light red-orange stars, near equal, SSW PA.  Split with 282x but better seen 508x.  SOC grade 1 orbit, 12.955-year period (!), it will hang at this separation for a couple more years before diving to periastron, becoming detectible again after 2030.

17h 12m 07.78s +45° 39' 57.6" P.A. 289.00 sep 0.7 mag 10.02,10.25 Sp M3V dist. 5.98 pc (19.51 l.y.)

STF1865 AB: 508; 1693x: With apodising mask and peephole, all powers, elongated N-S.  SOC grade 2 orbit, 125.24-year period, it is coming off periastron now and will be resolvable in a couple years.  Struve was lucky to discover it at apastron. 

14h 41m 08.92s +13° 43' 42.0" P.A. 265.00 sep 0.1 mag 4.46,4.55 Sp A0V+A0V dist. 53.88 pc (175.76 l.y.)

STF1998 AB 508; 282x: Xi Sco.  Nice pair, equal white stars closely split, PA NE.  SOC grade 1 orbit, 45.9-year period, it will close and be due east by 2040.

16h 04m 22.13s -11° 22' 23.2" P.A. 12.00 sep 1.2 mag 4.84,4.86 Sp F5IV+F5IV

STT 341 AB: 508; 635x: Lovely light orange stars, 1Dm, nice separation, PA ESE.  SOC grade 2 orbit, it will head further SE until 2033 when it begins a rapid dive toward periastron, not resolvable again until the 2040s.

18h 05m 49.72s +21° 26' 45.6" P.A. 89.00 sep 0.452 mag 7.39,8.82 Sp G0V+G5V dist. 39.45 pc (128.69 l.y.)

17 june 2025

Hopefully our luck is changing weather-wise, as there have been several nights of at least clear skies.  Opened up the 20-inch in case seeing would cooperate, but it was poor at full aperture, so I masked down to 7-inches for the session.  I've run out of targets in the 13-15h range on the CDSA list, except for the closest splits which would require better seeing.  I'll spend some time learning how to use my Questar and trying to use the NV device on my 20-inch (more in-focus needed, so might need to rebuild the focuser board).

BU 1443 AB: 178; 140x: 3 Dm, very wide.  20% PRO, but a very wide 11,730 AU WS, 3.9+1.2 Msol, and RVD 5.6 > EV, it is not binary.

14h 30m 45.39s +04° 46' 20.2" P.A. 195.00 sep 55.7 mag 6.17,10.62 Sp gK4 dist. 212.77 pc (694.06 l.y.)

HLD  18 AB: 178; 280x: 3 Dm, difficult, can just detect B with direct vision, close to A, need magnification to separate. 16% PRO, 570 AU WS, 2.2+1.1 Msol, it is possibly binary and needs an orbit.

14h 19m 25.83s -18° 31' 25.0" P.A. 355.00 sep 3.6 mag 7.35,10.68 Sp A3m+A8/F2 dist. 127.06 pc (414.47 l.y.)

STF1523 AB: 178; 200x: Alula Australis. Light yellow unequal stars, well split.  No Gaia parallax data.  SOC grade 1 orbit, 59.89-year period, currently apastron to the south east, it will be due east in 2045.

11h 18m 10.90s +31° 31' 45.0" P.A. 152.00 sep 2.3 mag 4.33,4.80 Sp F9V+G9V dist. 10.42 pc (33.99 l.y.)

STF1852 AB: 178; 140x: 3Dm, very wide. 48% PRO, 1,567 AU WS, 1.5+0.6 Msol, but RVD 3.2 > EV 1.6, it is not binary.

14h 30m 00.14s -04° 14' 49.9" P.A. 267.00 sep 24.9 mag 7.09,10.60 Sp F2V dist. 56.92 pc (185.67 l.y.)

STF1870 AB: 178; 140x: White, 2 Dm, well split. -5% PRO, it is not likely binary.

14h 42m 55.10s +08° 04' 34.3" P.A. 229.00 sep 4.8 mag 7.46,9.98 Sp F2 dist. 198.02 pc (645.94 l.y.)

STT 209 AB: 178; 140x: 3 Dm, well split.  64% PRO, 1,012 AU WS, 2.8+1.2 Msol, but RVD 3.7 > EV 2.6, it is not binary.

09h 53m 17.23s +50° 37' 16.3" P.A. 309.00 sep 4.9 mag 7.41,10.31 Sp G8IV dist. 196.85 pc (642.12 l.y.)

STT 258 AB: 178; 140x: Wide 3 Dm.  1% PRO with 0.8% error, 1,899 AU WS, 2.7+1.1 Msol, but RVD 4.2 > EV 1.9, it is not binary.

12h 54m 13.34s +82° 31' 03.8" P.A. 71.00 sep 10.5 mag 7.25,10.59 Sp K0 dist. 166.94 pc (544.56 l.y.)

STT 281 AB: 178; 280x: Very fine light orange stars, very closely split, 2 Dm, B is a fine point of light.  No Gaia parallax data for B, but an orbit should be tried.

14h 20m 20.85s +08° 34' 56.3" P.A. 166.00 sep 1.5 mag 7.71,9.69 Sp G5

STT 305 AB: 178; 140x: Bright pair, 2 Dm, well split, yellow-white stars.  90% PRO, 1,123 AU WS, 3.5+1.2 Msol, but RVD 4.6 > EV 2.7, it is not binary.

16h 11m 39.60s +33° 20' 33.8" P.A. 263.00 sep 5.7 mag 6.44,10.17 Sp K2III dist. 154.56 pc (504.17 l.y.)

STT 522 AB: 178; 140x: Faint and wide B with averted vision only.  40% PRO, 3,604 AU WS, 3.0+0.9 Msol, with a strong PMV, it is likely binary and needs an orbit

09h 53m 54.04s +64° 47' 20.2" P.A. 124.00 sep 14.5 mag 7.50,12.10 Sp K0 dist. 219.78 pc (716.92 l.y.)

Titan shadow transit of Saturn

It's been a frustrating observing season, with hazy skies, poor seeing, and marine layers rolling in every night.  The night of 6/15-16 was to feature a rare shadow transit of Titan across Saturn.  This happens every 18 years or so, and there will be several more transits in the coming months, but since we're heading into fire season, I wanted to be sure to see this one.  For this transit the shadow would move close to the middle of Saturn, while the others would be more toward the polar region and be somewhat more difficult to see.

I drove up to Henry Coe in the late evening, intending to get above the Bay's marine haze and to have a good view to the east.  I emailed the rangers a couple days in advance, but the gate was locked when I arrived, and there weren't any rangers at the visitor's center.  I parked outside the gate and carried all my gear to the other end of the lot, with a view of the eastern horizon.

I used my C8 on the G11 mount.  The mount is overkill but was actually a good decision since it remained windy all night.  Transparency was on the poor side and seeing was atrocious.  I had some pointing problems with the mount (I'm not used to it yet), so I didn't bother with any purposeful observing.  I brought my night vision device and am very pleased I can reach focus with it in prime configuration in the C8, achieving a nicely illuminated image at a "normal" image scale of around a half degree.  I made a round of various Messier & NGC globular clusters in Sagittarius -- all of which I've seen before, so I didn't take notes.  All the globular were resolved to their cores, bright, and the star fields were very rich.  The views are at least as good as my 20-inch would be visually in a dark site.  I'm very happy to have the versatility of using the device for more than just large nebula.

But I did view some large nebula all the same.  I scanned around using Ha and the 3x objective looking many things I've seen before.  The sky was washed out and the nebula were not as bright or detailed as they would be from a darker site.  All the same, I noticed to the far southern horizon Gum 53, below Sivan 8.  It was very large, fairly bright (even considering it was in Gilroy's light dome), and dual fan shaped -- two wings with a dark V-shape in between.  Astro photos show many dark nebula trunks coursing through it, but I didn't see such detail since I was using low magnification, but I did see very faint streams of nebula running between it up to Sivan 8. 

Around midnight I tried to sleep in my car, intending to wake up at 3:00am when Saturn should be well risen and the shadow transit should be approaching its midpoint.  But I didn't sleep very well and got up at 2:30am.  I looked at the 3rd quarter moon for a while.  Seeing was still soft, transparency a little worse, and it was still gusting.  Saturn looked very poor when I first slewed to it, I could barely make out any bands and only saw a small formless dark smudge where the shadow should be.  I touched-up my collimation and continued to observe.  After 20 minutes or so, at 3:30am, the seeing settled down enough to give me a fine view of the small dark dot of shadow, just below the very thin rings (which appeared as a dark slash through the planet -- viewed nearly edge on they weren't reflecting so much light back).  In moments of best seeing, I could see the very small, tiny points of Dione & Tethys, and even Enceladus which was a brightening on the outer edge of the rings.  Rhea was easy and bright further west from the system.

  

Mission accomplished, I started packing at 4:00am and drove home.  There are more events in the weeks to come and hopefully I can see them (maybe even from home).