5 october 2026, lake sonoma

I was waiting for a good opportunity to observe this new moon, and the weather cleared sufficiently Monday night 10/5.  I left the house at 3:30pm but of course hit heavy traffic.  With one stop for something to eat I didn't arrive until 7:00pm.  Carter Scholtz and his friend arrived a little while later, and there were some others in the upper part of the Lone Rock lot.  I brought my 18-inch, which takes a rather long time to set-up.  I didn't bring the right cable for the eFinder, so I just used the DSC and go-to, which was accurate enough.  I wanted to observe galaxies, but with the Milky Way high overhead I occupied myself with open clusters and such (I forgot my OIII and NBP filters at home), mostly going through the Deep Sky 600 list.  I had seen most of these before and I wasn't very interested; without a specific observing plan I felt aimless, and frustrated that I felt that way.  

I also noticed something was off with the star images.  Brighter stars were not clean and round and had some spikiness.  Astigmatism showed with a star test when breaking focus on either side.  I don't think it was temperature related, as it was still hot shorts weather through midnight.  I assume the seat belt edge support is twisting it.  The scope was built around a 2" thick mirror and now there is a 1.5", with no change to the cell design.  I thought this might be a problem but could not think of an easy solution (the cell is enclosed in a box, and it won't be easy to change to a cable sling.  Also, the scope is very much overbuilt and heavy -- good when there's a wind, but who would observe in the wind?  It takes up most of the space in the car and I find I have no room to pack alternate gear.

I observed until around 2am and tried to sleep in my car but slept poorly and got up around 5am.  I noticed the half-lit moon rising with something close above it and remembered the conjunction with Jupiter.  Unfortunately, the conjunction had passed but I pointed the scope at it anyway: the view was very soft at the low elevation.  I packed and left and unfortunately hit a lot of traffic and diverted around 880 and didn't arrive home until 8:30am.

One it was late enough, seeing improved to a little better than average, and I started in on small Galaxy Groups.  SQML was 21.3 late in the night, and I used my Leica zoom, 130-260x.

NGC 6211, Draco, 4 galaxies

Four galaxies in a NE-SW line.  N6211 is the brightest, with a round relatively bright core and large but very faint diffuse halo.  N6213 was very faint and small, averted vision then could hold direct.  MCG+10-24-32 was very small, extremely faint, averted vision only, as was MCG+10-24-34.

NGC 6338, Draco, 7 galaxies

N6338 has a large bright round core and diffuse halo, a star just to the north of the core.  Just beyond the northern edge of the diffuse halo is MCG+10-24-117, a small round non-stellar glow with averted vision only.  To the SE is IC 1252, small faint 4:1 NW-SE elongation with a faintly stellar nucleus.  N6345 was slightly brighter, similar characteristics but orientated NE-SW.  N6346 was small, faint, and round, and MCG+10-24-113 was very faint non-stellar, with averted vision.  I did not chase the unlabeled MAC galaxies, likely need a better finder chart, more magnification, and a darker sky.

NGC 6962, Aquarius, 13 galaxies

N6962 was great: bright core and large round mottled halo with faint spiral structure, including very faintly separated spiral arms to the north and to the south, distinctly brighter than the diffuse rest of the halo.  There was a knot or perhaps a faint star on the SW rim on the southern arm.  N6964 was to the SE and has a bright core and small diffuse slightly elongated halo.  N6961 was to the NW, very small and very faint non-stellar glow.  N6967 to the NE, very faint E-W 3:1 elongation, seen with averted vision then could hold it direct.  N6959 was small and very faint, direct vision, while its companion to the W MAC 2047+0026 was seen fleetingly with averted vision.  The northernmost member, N6965, was a small round glow.  Did not try for the CGCG or UGC.

NGC 7184, Aquarius, 4 galaxies

N7184 was spectacular.  Sharp stellar nucleus, bright compact core, and around 6:1 ENE-WSW elongated halo which displayed structure: a curved brightening in the SW (spiral arm) and knots just to the east of the halo.  A faint star was at the NE tip.  The other three galaxies in the group were ordinary, forming a NE-SW line: N7180 a faint small, elongated glow, N7185 with a small bright core and a subtly NE-SW elongated halo, and very faint small glow N7188.

NGC 7331, Pegasus

I looked at this just to see the supernova SN 2026aaiv, which was easily seen close to the core, and around the same magnitude as the core.  I could see three of the fleas, only N7336 needing some effort and magnification.

NGC 7385: Pegasus, 7+ galaxies

N7385 is the large central galaxy, with a stellar nucleus and bright core, large round halo.  To the north is N7386, just as bright but with a 2:1 halo elongated NW-SE.  N7387 forms an equilateral triangle with these two, but is smaller, still fairly bright and a hazy, slightly elongated halo.  Just to the south of it is MCG+2-58-23, very small and weak, with averted vision only.  Four more galaxies to the south formed a Sagitta-shaped arrow: N7389 and N7390 as the feathers, both bright ellipticals but N7390 smaller, then very small glow N7384 and brighter N7383, with a bright core and round halo, forming the shaft. 

NGC 7436: Pegasus, 5+ galaxies

Small compact group.  N7436 had a small bright core but a large, round, diffuse halo, like a light in the fog.  Small but relatively bright N7433 pops into view with averted vision and forms a sort of double core with N7436.  N7435 had a smaller core, and its halo was intermixed on N7436's southern edge, but more elongated NW-SE.  Small non-stellar glow MCG+4-54-7 was seen popping with averted vision but difficult to hold it.  To the NW of the group was N7431, very faint elongated haze 4:1 NE-SW with a stellar nucleus.  To the SW of the group CGCG 475-5 was small faint glow intermittently held with averted vision.  Finally, to the SE, UGC 12274 was barely seen averted vision, a non-stellar core with a 4:1 NW-SE elongated halo, a bright star on the NW tip of the halo.

NGC 7619: Pegasus, 16 galaxies

The central galaxy pair are N7619 and N7626, easy moderate ellipticals with brighter cores.  N7617 was small but very easily seen close to the SW of N7619.  I followed the line it made to the SW to find N7611, an easy oval diffuse glow.  Directly west was IC5309, a small faint glow with a star in the southern part of its halo.  Arcing back to the south past a bright star I found UGC 12518, a very weak, small, elongated glow, held with averted vision only.  Back to the central pair then making a clockwise sweep starting in the east, I tried to find CGCG-406-79 but could not (I probably was not using enough magnification).  N7631 was a fairly large diffuse 3:1 E-W glow with a brighter core.  N7623 was a fairly bright relatively large glow, while N7621 next to it was faint and non-stellar.  Could not see MCG+1-59-61.  I could easily see N7612 as a 3:1 N-S glow with brighter core, and I did see the very faint non-stellar CGCG 406-69 with averted vision.  N7608 was a fairly large, elongated glow which brightened with averted vision.  UGC 12510 was very weak and small, with only intermittent pops with averted vision.  

 

7 october 2026, burnhams with the 6-inch

Seeing was predicted to be at or a little better than average, so I uncovered the 6-inch to observe.  The 20-inch has a malfunctioning azimuth encoder, so out of action.  I'll try cleaning the connectors to see if that fixes the intermittent encoder error, otherwise I'll have to tear the scope all the way down to tighten the encoder shaft set screw.  For this night's session I chose pairs Burnham discovered with his 6-inch, and tested myself against him.  I had trouble with some of the faintest stars as there was thin haze blowing in.  Happy to be out observing; the scope has good optics so it's a pleasure to observe with it and the piggybacked 80mm.

BU 1 AB: 152; 120x: Amazing close triple in a nearly perfect triangle. -31% PRO, it is not binary, nor is C.

00h 52m 49.22s +56° 37' 39.5" P.A. 82.00 sep 1.5 mag 8.58,9.33 Sp O6.5V+B0V dist. 3030.3 pc (9884.84 l.y.)

BU 3 AB: 152; 180x: Very faint B swims into view with attention, well separated. -31% PRO it is not binary.

01h 17m 03.06s +56° 30' 15.1" P.A. 27.00 sep 4.5 mag 8.02,10.10 Sp K0

BU 5 AB: 152; 250x: Barely notched elongation, difficult. 1.5" at discovery, no problem for Burnham!  No Gaia parallax for B.  Given the amount of movement since discovery, an orbit should be tried.

01h 39m 15.21s +16° 37' 31.9" P.A. 282.00 sep 0.5 mag 6.98,9.20 Sp G3III dist. 177.62 pc (579.4 l.y.)

BU 107 AB: 152; 175x: Very faint B held after foveal coaxing, wide.  9% PRO, 4,203 AU WS, 2.1+1.8 Msol, and RVD 0.7 < EV 1.3, it's possible it's binary and an orbit should be tried.

00h 31m 17.66s +63° 20' 33.0" P.A. 354.00 sep 5.8 mag 11.14,11.73 dist. 276.24 pc (901.09 l.y.)

B 108 AB: 152; 175x: Well separated faint B.  -19% PRO, it is not binary.

00h 34m 33.70s +62° 54' 12.2" P.A. 6.00 sep 4.5 mag 7.81,10.60 Sp F5 dist. 54.2 pc (176.8 l.y.)

BU 230 AB: 152; 175x: B seen with averted vision then can hold, well split.  Lacks parallax data for the primary.

00h 37m 20.12s +27° 18' 12.0" P.A. 325.00 sep 3.9 mag 9.40,10.00 Sp F5

BU 231 AB: 152; 120x: Easy faint wide. -82% PRO it is not binary.

00h 44m 43.50s +48° 17' 03.8" P.A. 303.00 sep 34.4 mag 4.54,11.20 Sp B5IIIe dist. 215.52 pc (703.03 l.y.)

BU 232 AB: 152; 250x: Unequal, hairline spilt with seeing. 98%(!) PRO, 76 AU WS, 1.3+1.2 Msol, it is likely binary.  SOC grade 3 orbit, 205-year period.

00h 50m 25.10s +50° 37' 49.6" P.A. 254.00 sep 0.9 mag 8.46,8.79 Sp F5 dist. 101.11 pc (329.82 l.y.)

BU 236 AB: 152; 120x: Near equal wide.  15% PRO, 1526 AU WS, 2.0+1.9 Msol, there is a possibility it is binary and an orbit can be tried.

01h 12m 04.85s +47° 00' 03.2" P.A. 114.00 sep 5.4 mag 9.10,9.20 Sp A0

BU 257 AB: 152; 250x: Orange and blue overlapping disks, with seeing only.  Gaia lacks any data for secondary. 

00h 40m 13.00s +47° 15' 21.0" P.A. 253.00 sep 0.6 mag 8.06,9.11 Sp G0 dist. 246.31 pc (803.46 l.y.)

BU 258 AB: 152; 250x: Closely split, very faint B, on A's diffraction line.  -72% PRO, it is not binary.

01h 13m 09.82s +61° 42' 22.3" P.A. 263.00 sep 1.6 mag 6.50,8.80 Sp B9V dist. 201.61 pc (657.65 l.y.)

BU 394 AB: 152; 250x: Closely split unequal, 1 Dm. 10% PRO, only 20 AU WS, 1.0+1.0 Msol.  Negative PMV 0.13 but to me that just means it could be in retrograde motion.  Indeed, there is a SOC grade 3 orbit, 142-year period, which will widen ~0.2" in the next 20 years.

00h 30m 45.56s +47° 31' 47.5" P.A. 278.00 sep 0.9 mag 8.49,8.77 Sp G0 dist. 49.33 pc (160.91 l.y.)

BU 396 AB: 152; 250x: B is a faint small dot, steady in A's diffraction.  Needed to use the peephole to see it.  Gaia lacks data on the secondary.  It would be worth trying an orbit given the difficulty, though the star is a bit far away to have a good chance.

01h 03m 37.01s +61° 04' 29.4" P.A. 68.00 sep 1.3 mag 6.06,8.62 Sp F0II dist. 613.5 pc (2001.24 l.y.)

BU 398 AB: 152; 175x: Unequal, very close split. -45% PRO, it is not binary.

01h 11m 52.40s +47° 47' 54.4" P.A. 44.00 sep 1.8 mag 9.31,9.38 Sp A2 dist. 201.61 pc (657.65 l.y.)

BU 453 AB: 152; 333x: Exceedingly difficult elongation, with flashes of split in best moments, unequal.  Shockingly a -61% PRO, 53 AU WS, 0.9+0.8 Msol, -0.15 PMV.  SOC grade 4 orbit 576- year period, which has tracked through a significant arc since discovery.  It may well be binary but is very peculiar. 1.0" at discovery.

01h 45m 00.71s +57° 07' 00.3" P.A. 115.00 sep 0.8 mag 10.04,10.45 Sp G5 dist. 101.73 pc (331.84 l.y.)

BU 488 AB: 152; 250x: Very faint B seen intermittently, lightly blue.  74% PRO, 458 AU WS, 2.1+1.0 Msol, RVD 2.4 < EV 3.4, it is likely binary and needs an orbit.

00h 23m 59.82s -03° 28' 31.0" P.A. 340.00 sep 3.3 mag 7.41,10.28 Sp A2V dist. 131.93 pc (430.36 l.y.)

BU 492 AB: 152; 250x: B is a persistent small faint dot around 2" separation.  No Gaia data on B.  

00h 45m 17.20s +55° 13' 17.1" P.A. 173.00 sep 1.5 mag 5.42,11.50 Sp A2Vs dist. 98.81 pc (322.32 l.y.)

BU 507 AB: 152; 175x: Very faint B, well separated. 31% PRO, 1.8+1.0 Msol, it is possibly binary and needs an orbit.

01h 35m 26.61s +26° 41' 03.3" P.A. 145.00 sep 2.2 mag 8.05,10.89 Sp K2 dist. 129.87 pc (423.64 l.y.)

BU 508 AB: 152; 250x: Extremely difficult, elongated for sure and in best moments heavily notched unequal.  No Gaia data for B, an orbit should be tried given the difficulty.

01h 39m 08.52s +26° 56' 08.0" P.A. 53.00 sep 0.7 mag 9.81,10.02 Sp F8

BU 509 AB: 152; 250x: Faint, very close split with seeing, nearly equal.  81% PRO, 35 AU WS, 0.8+0.9 Msol.  SOC grade 3 orbit, 241-year period, little change in the next 20 years.

01h 43m 44.93s +09° 34' 07.2" P.A. 21.00 sep 0.8 mag 9.48,9.19 Sp K0 dist. 51.26 pc (167.21 l.y.)

BU 513 AB: 152; 250x: White, maybe a very slight out of roundness, not defined. SOC grade 2 orbit, 60.43-year period, it is due east now and will be due south by 2035, widening to 0.6".  Discovered at 1.0" with the 18.5-inch Dearborn refractor.  Burnham says: "This most interesting binary was discovered with the 18.5", but at the time was easily seen with the 6-inch.  It is now (1898) a very difficult object, and only measurable with a large aperture under the best conditions.  The motion of the companion has been nearly a quadrant since the first measures, and it may prove to have a short period, but a much larger arc is required to give even a rough approximation of the orbit."  Discovery was due west near apastron; it is now due east periastron.  1898 was almost exactly 2 orbits ago, so I'm trying to observe it when Burnham says it's difficult and needs large aperture!

02h 01m 57.55s +70° 54' 25.4" P.A. 320.00 sep 0.6 mag 4.65,6.74 Sp A3V dist. 35.26 pc (115.02 l.y.)

30 september 2026, more Burnhams

Observed again with the 20-inch, again working off the Burnham list and some movement pairs.  Seeing was even better than the night before, and I tried to work a different area of the sky.  Some gorgeous pairs observed, I'm so glad I'm back on the 20-inch--through I have to return to some of the early Burnhams with my 6-inch, just to test whether I can detect them.  I had some pointing accuracy issues, will need to get the eFinder soon.

BU  152 AB: 508; 280x: White and dull blue, closely split at this magnification, nearly 2 Dm.  -25% PRO, though there is only 168 AU WS.  There is a SOC grade 4 orbit, 737-year period, only time will tell but I don't think it will turn out to be binary.

20h 42m 16.81s +57° 23' 07.4" P.A. 81.00 sep 1.2 mag 7.21,8.80 Sp A4IV dist. 152.44 pc (497.26 l.y.)

BU  155 AB: 508; 560x: Seen with lower magnification but this is the best-looking power, white stars, close but good split, a little more than 1 Dm. No Gaia data on the secondary.  SOC grade 5 orbit 765-year period.  

20h 51m 05.41s +51° 25' 01.7" P.A. 41.00 sep 0.7 mag 7.36,8.13 Sp A9IV dist. 124.53 pc (406.22 l.y.)

BU  159 AB: 508; 560x: Gorgeous, light yellow A and close, much fainter B.  Needed higher magnification to separate them enough for B to be out of A's diffraction.  Far separated C (STTA 215 AC) a deep orange color.  No parallax data on B.  

21h 10m 30.96s +47° 41' 32.0" P.A. 314.00 sep 1.2 mag 6.55,9.07 Sp B6IV dist. 423.73 pc (1382.21 l.y.)

BU  160 BC: 508; 140x: B is widely split and faint, but BC, its near equal well split companion is the attraction.  -16% PRO and RVD 1.4 > EV 1.0, it is not binary.

21h 12m 09.28s +45° 41' 21.1" P.A. 115.00 sep 6.4 mag 11.40,11.60

BU  366 AB: 508; 280x: White, near equal, good separation.  -47% PRO, it is not binary.

20h 48m 34.14s +50° 29' 27.9" P.A. 130.00 sep 1.5 mag 8.70,8.93 Sp A0

BU  431 AB: 508; 560x: Suspected at 280x but needed 560x for a nice clean split with good star images, unequal, PA to southwest. No Gaia data for B.  Needs more measurements to determine if binary.

20h 19m 57.83s +36° 16' 08.0" P.A. 208.00 sep 0.5 mag 8.62,8.96 Sp A7III

BU  432 AB: 508; 280x: Pretty, like a small version of Albeiro, light-orange A and blue-white B closely split, 2 Dm.  80% PRO, 252 AU WS, 1.8+1.5 Msol, 0.1 PMV, it is likely binary and needs an orbit.

20h 24m 48.74s +35° 45' 28.2" P.A. 197.00 sep 1.4 mag 8.61,9.43 Sp F8

BU  433 AB: 508; 280x: Faint, well separated B. C is slightly brighter, much further separated.  Parallax overlaps but RVD 2.3 > EV 1.6, it is not binary. 

20h 26m 32.25s +56° 18' 41.0" P.A. 207.00 sep 7.6 mag 8.95,11.20 Sp A2

BU  472 AB: 508; 280x: Close split at this power, white, unequal.  34% PRO, 366 AU WS, 3.0+2.8 Msol, it is likely binary and needs an orbit.

20h 59m 46.36s +61° 52' 10.3" P.A. 14.00 sep 0.8 mag 8.76,8.80 Sp A2

BU  660 AB: 508; 200x: Light orange A, well separated faint B seen with direct vision, brightens with averted.  -92% PRO, it is not binary.

20h 13m 42.81s +43° 22' 44.4" P.A. 318.00 sep 8.7 mag 6.29,12.70 Sp K3III dist. 208.77 pc (681.01 l.y.)

BU  661 AB: 508; 140x: Bright light orange A, well separated faint but still direct vision B.  -44% PRO, it is not binary.

20h 16m 55.28s +40° 21' 54.3" P.A. 69.00 sep 12.3 mag 5.24,11.50 Sp K3.5IIab dist. 483.09 pc (1575.84 l.y.)

BU  681 AB: 508; 280x: Quite beautiful light orange A and very faint B like a planet.  PA nearly due west, good separation, needed more magnification to separate them and make the fainter star visible. -47% PRO, they are not binary.

21h 13m 16.58s +16° 55' 08.4" P.A. 242.00 sep 2.9 mag 7.48,10.92 Sp K3III dist. 213.68 pc (697.02 l.y.)

BU 1139 AB: 508; 560x: Glimpses of a faint point at the separation, twice out of A's diffraction.  -46% PRO, it is not binary.

21h 01m 55.01s +57° 04' 18.7" P.A. 136.00 sep 2.1 mag 6.69,12.50 Sp B8V dist. 311.53 pc (1016.21 l.y.)

BU 1206 AB: 508; 280x: Lovely, fairly close pair, 3 Dm, needed higher power to separate and darken background sky.  12% PRO, 377 AU WS, 2.3+1.1 Msol, it's possible to be binary and needs an orbit tried.

20h 19m 07.08s +36° 45' 07.6" P.A. 355.00 sep 2.2 mag 7.53,10.70 Sp F4III

BU 1261 AB: 508; 280x: Gorgeous pair, white A and blue-white B >2 Dm, close split. -48% PRO, it is not binary.

21h 16m 07.68s +16° 06' 12.4" P.A. 151.00 sep 1.8 mag 9.00,10.20 Sp A2

BU 1493 AB: 508; 140x: Very faint very wide B. -74% PRO, it is not binary.

20h 45m 17.37s +61° 50' 19.6" P.A. 103.00 sep 42.4 mag 3.43,11.30 Sp K0IV dist. 14.27 pc (46.55 l.y.)

BU 1502 AB: 508; 140x: Faint B quite wide, apodising mask helps find the errant faint point in the normalized diffraction pattern. 

21h 18m 34.59s +62° 35' 07.6" P.A. 17.00 sep 196.6 mag 2.46,11.46 Sp A7V dist. 15.04 pc (49.06 l.y.)

STT 400 AB: 508; 560x: Seen with lower powers but higher used to widen the split and get nice star images, light orange-yellow stars, 1 Dm.  SOC class 2 orbit, 86-year period, it is coming off apastron and will slowly close in the same NW PA the next 20 years and need higher powers to resolve.

20h 10m 13.32s +43° 56' 44.2" P.A. 324.00 sep 0.7 mag 7.60,9.83 Sp G3V dist. 51.33 pc (167.44 l.y.)

29 september 2026, mostly burnhams

Opened the 20-inch in anticipation of the forecasted clear skies and good seeing.  It was a good night and seeing was good, slowly improving through the night.  I wish I could have stayed out longer as it got better and better, but I wrapped up around 12:30am.  Spent most of the time on Burnhams as a warm up and then did a few movement pairs.  With apodizing mask throughout.

BU 53 AB: 508; 280x: Lovely 1 Dm split, white stars in a rich field. -39% PRO, it is not binary.

19h 35m 27.22s +11° 26' 22.4" P.A. 246.00 sep 1.7 mag 9.23,10.27 Sp A2

BU 66 AB: 508; 280x: Light yellow unequal stars, close split.  -23% PRO it is not binary.

20h 48m 06.26s +27° 27' 25.3" P.A. 169.00 sep 1.1 mag 8.76,9.28 Sp F0 dist. 456.62 pc (1489.49 l.y.)

BU 164 AB: 508; 1270x: Overlapping disks, unequal, N-S PA hard to tell which (probably PA S). [Actually, NW but how to tell with this separation?]  Now at periastron, SOC grade 4 361.5-year period, it will slowly widen to a doable 0.4" in 2050.  Part of STF 2793.

21h 25m 05.66s +09° 23' 02.6" P.A. 300.2 sep 0.033 mag 8.17,8.30 Sp A5IV-V dist. 136.05 pc (443.8 l.y.)

BU 361 AB: 508; 140x: Unequal well split, white.  21% PRO, 1209 AU WS, 2.0+1.8 Msol, it might be binary and needs an orbit.

19h 50m 17.07s +22° 39' 54.7" P.A. 348.00 sep 3.6 mag 9.37,9.93 Sp A0

BU 364 AB: 508; 280x: Light yellow, unequal, close split.  42% PRO, 55 AU WS, 1.0+1.0 Msol, it is probably binary.  SOC grade 4, 856-year period.  

20h 47m 03.56s +25° 24' 49.3" P.A. 80.00 sep 0.6 mag 9.00,9.12 Sp G5

BU 445 AB: 508; 200x: Light yellow-orange A, and very faint well split companion. 2% PRO, 911 AU WS, 2.9+1.0 Msol, it is possible they are binary and an orbit can be tried.

21h 03m 29.53s +29° 05' 33.0" P.A. 109.00 sep 4.7 mag 7.00,11.14 Sp G8III dist. 197.24 pc (643.4 l.y.)

BU 446 AB: 508; 280x: Very fine faint B, well split.  -39% PRO, it is not binary.

21h 20m 44.34s +33° 26' 49.2" P.A. 258.00 sep 3.2 mag 9.27,12.30 Sp A5

BU 650 AB: 508; 200x: Lovely grouping, two faint stars form "L" shape near bright white star.  -20% it is not binary.

19h 32m 13.13s +06° 30' 11.3" P.A. 146.00 sep 6.5 mag 8.17,11.70 Sp B9IVp

BU 657 AB: 508; 280x: ! Incredibly fine, very faint B seen with lower power but better with high.  -43% PRO, it is not binary.  

19h 43m 49.05s +22° 37' 56.5" P.A. 133.00 sep 0.9 mag 9.78,10.47 Sp F0

BU 659 AB: 508; 140x: Well split faint star from bright white A. -89% PRO it is not binary.

19h 54m 40.18s +07° 08' 25.3" P.A. 303.00 sep 14.7 mag 6.15,12.00 Sp A2V dist. 81.77 pc (266.73 l.y.)

BU 677 AB: 508; 140x: Light orange A and well separated faint B, looks like an artist's rendition of a planet.  22% PRO, 1275 AU WS, 3.9+0.8 Msol, it is possibly binary and needs an orbit.

20h 47m 10.72s +34° 22' 26.8" P.A. 120.00 sep 10.0 mag 4.94,10.03 Sp K3III dist. 136.43 pc (445.03 l.y.)

BU  828 AB: 508; 200x: Well separated white stars, 2 Dm.  28% PRO, 1892 AU WS, 3.5+2.0 Msol, it is possibly binary and needs an orbit.

19h 46m 56.51s +06° 09' 48.8" P.A. 15.00 sep 3.0 mag 8.48,10.40 Sp B9

BU  829 AB: 508; 280x: Lovely close split, white stars, 1 Dm. -32% PRO it is not binary.

19h 48m 56.02s +05° 44' 54.5" P.A. 314.00 sep 0.8 mag 9.08,9.75 Sp A0

BU  976 AB: 508; 200x: Very nice yellow-white A and 3 Dm close light yellow B.  72% PRO, 529 AU WS, 2.9+1.3 Msol, it is likely binary and needs an orbit.

19h 32m 12.69s +09° 20' 03.5" P.A. 96.00 sep 2.3 mag 7.06,10.68 Sp B9.5IV-V dist. 275.48 pc (898.62 l.y.)

BU  978 AB: 508; 280x: Excellent near equal white close pair.  83% PRO, 894 AU WS, 3.3+3.2 Msol, it is likely binary and needs an orbit.

19h 51m 28.66s +23° 31' 46.7" P.A. 58.00 sep 1.1 mag 9.56,9.67 Sp B3

BU 1132 AB: 508; 560x: Beautifully close split, significantly unequal white stars. No Gaia data on B.

19h 43m 14.79s +27° 01' 06.4" P.A. 212.00 sep 0.6 mag 9.35,9.94 Sp B8

BU 1471 AB: 508; 280x: Needed higher power to darken sky contrast for faint well split B.  -1% PRO, 8942 AU WS, it is not likely binary.

19h 38m 27.48s +17° 15' 26.0" P.A. 333.00 sep 12.5 mag 7.51,11.86 Sp B0.5V dist. 719.42 pc (2346.75 l.y.)

 

HU  371 AB: 508; 1270x: Feel B is to the N, very subtle elongation.  No Gaia data for either.  SOC grade 3 orbit, 178.6-year period, it will only tighten in the coming decades.

21h 35m 27.03s +24° 27' 07.9" P.A. 319.00 sep 0.2 mag 6.83,7.27 Sp A3V dist. 197.63 pc (644.67 l.y.)

23 september 2026, movement pairs

Finally, after around 5 months, I had a decent night's observing with my 20-inch.  Seeing was good, not great -- 7/10 -- but enough to go after movement pairs at higher elevations.  I replaced the ServoCat controller with one with the firmware upgraded, and it fortunately copied the settings.  I still need to tweak the gear ratios and speed settings but will go that later.  First time using the stationary shed with the door ramp and removable wheels and handles.  Worked very nicely and I'm happy I have this solution for the years to come.  I removed the 80mm finder to reduce the UTA weight and only relied on the setting circles for pointing accuracy, which was pretty good.  Looking forward to installing an eFinder as soon as it arrives.

I tried to observe any as yet unobserved movement pairs, and any I had marked for reobservation.  SkyTools 3 worked ok; I found I needed to delete many lists, it seems the glitches I had were related to some sort of memory limit.  Apodizing mask used throughout.

BU 151 AB: 508; 560x: Rotanev, Beta Delphinus.  Split with best focus and seeing, very large delta, PA to the northwest in the direction of another wide faint star.  Current separation 0.482 and will widen 0.1" by 2032.  SOC grade 1, 26.68-year period.

20h 37m 32.87s +14° 35' 42.7" P.A. 323.00 sep 0.482 mag 4.11,5.02 Sp F5IV+F2V dist. 30.93 pc (100.89 l.y.)

BU 658 AB: 508; 1270x: Orange stars, very tight snowman, weaker to the WSW.  There's no orbit for this one, and B is not in Gaia -- needs some speckle interferometry observations.

19h 43m 55.97s +27° 08' 07.5" P.A. 276.00 sep 0.3 mag 6.72,7.92 Sp B7V+G1III dist. 757.58 pc (2471.23 l.y.)

BU 670 AB: 508; 420x: Near equal, PA to north.  -63% PRO, it is not binary.

20h 32m 55.22s +13° 56' 40.0" P.A. 6.00 sep 0.8 mag 9.44,9.87 Sp F8 dist. 990.1 pc (3229.71 l.y.)

BU 989 AB: 508; 1270x: Light orange-yellow stars, notched elongation, weaker member to WNW.  SOC grade 1, 11.57-year period, it will close these next couple of years but be to the SE by 2032.

21h 44m 38.70s +25° 38' 42.0" P.A. 134.00 sep 0.2 mag 4.94,5.04 Sp F5V dist. 34.22 pc (111.63 l.y.)

COU 14 AB: 508; 1270x: Primary star with a small faint, but still easy to see tip of a B star overlapping the very edge of A's disk, PA to the southeast.  [SOC ephemeris puts the PA at 246-degrees southwest, separation 0.343"].

21h 50m 08.64s +17° 17' 09.4" P.A. 85.00 sep 0.2 mag 5.74,6.94 Sp F2III-IV dist. 33.42 pc (109.02 l.y.)

KUI  99 AB: 508; 420x: Suspected double at 280x.  Excellent pair, both stars orange, PA to the southeast, large delta but aesthetic split.  SOC grade 2, 38.7-year period, it is at apastron now and will start to rapidly close in the mid-2030s.

20h 39m 37.71s +04° 58' 19.3" P.A. 121.00 sep 0.811 mag 8.28,9.63 Sp K5V dist. 16.72 pc (54.54 l.y.)

STF 2737 AB: 508; 1270x: Olive shaped, PA vaguely east. SOC grade 2, near periastron now, will be nearly undetectable until the mid-2030s when it will rapidly widen.

20h 59m 04.54s +04° 17' 37.8" P.A. 109.00 sep 0.1 mag 5.96,6.31 Sp F6IV dist. 204.5 pc (667.08 l.y.)

STT 535 AB: 508; 1270x: Light yellow, weak egg shape, slightly notched, PA to SW, faint star on edge of field to north.  SOC grade 1, 5.71-year period, it will close the next couple of years but reach 0.33" apastron in 2030.  

21h 14m 28.81s +10° 00' 25.1" P.A. 214.00 sep 0.101 mag 5.19,5.52 Sp F6V+F6V dist. 18.49 pc (60.31 l.y.)

WCK 2 Aa,Ab: 508; 850x: Very weakly notched, tight snowman with weaker end to the N, but difficult to detect this.  White stars, component of BU 298.  SOC grade 1, 16.9-year period, 0.218" current separation, it will widen imperceptibly for the next three years before tightening.

20h 39m 38.25s +15° 54' 43.4" P.A. 243.00 sep 0.2 mag 3.86,6.43 Sp B9IV dist. 77.82 pc (253.85 l.y.)

lake sonoma 7 sept

A weather and time window opened up for Labor Day.  Fearing interference from wildfire smoke along the central coast, I decided to observe from Lake Sonoma.  Steve, Zaid, and Emma and her friend showed up.  I tried out my NP101 with the Binotron, and brought my NV with mirror mount since Steve wanted to view Sh2-126.  Warm night, no dew, with transparency which deteriorated after 1am.  I packed it in around 2:30 and napped in my car until 5:45.  I hit traffic in 101 near Novato, but none on the way up.  

Zaid's mount broke in transport, so not to make his trip wasted I invited him to use my NV and mirror mount, which he gladly did, sharing views with Emma.

I made a list of small scope / binocular targets, but surprisingly many of them seemed too small or faint to use even a 4-inch.  I liked the Binotron with the power & filter switches: all the observing controls are at one's fingertips and it's convenient.  On the other hand, the FOV is significantly reduced vs. single eyepiece, and it's very long and heavy, causing balance problems.  I still prefer the Binovue but one has to change eyepieces, and there's no diopter.  I think I'll use the Binovue for solar when I rarely change eyepieces, and I don't really need a full disk view, and use the Binotron for lunar, planetary, and general deep sky.  For deep sky the views are dimmer, which would limit it to bright objects only.

I observed quite a lot and quickly, so my notes are rather poor.  I observed all of these before so I was mainly just thinking about what could be seen in the set-up. Much dimmer in 4-inch visually than I have been used to -- I couldn't even detect N6888!  Many open clusters which one can take in just a few seconds, as long as it takes to count stars.  

NP101 with Binotron, OIII & NBP

M22: Well resolved, took all powers well but seeing not good to the horizon

M21: Weak scatter of ~12 stars

Lagoon: The open cluster is much more prominent than the nebula, which is a weak streaked arc.  I do see crenelations of the dark nebula pretty well

N6544: Faint, irregularly round, hazily resolved with medium power

N6618: Swan Nebula: very weak compared to NV, relatively bright swan shape and weak mottled halo forming the omega; filters help a little.

N6624: Faint and small but noticed immediately as a globular cluster, bright round center surrounded by a haze of stars.

N6626: Bright central region, round haze of stars around it.

IC4715: Wonderful dusting of stars with faint dusty clouds

N6638: Small faint, round, bright center, puff of a halo 

N6171: Very faint unresolved cloud

M12: Mostly unresolved stars with a sense of spikes or trails of stars coming out of the slightly brighter center.

M10: Brighter than M12, especially in the middle, more compact.

N6266: Bright, pretty well resolved, round and fairly large.

N6294: Faint, rather small cloud, not resolved.

N6284: Very faint, bright stellar core, faint cloud surrounding

N6293: Faint, small, round

N6649: Very faint loose cluster off the edge of a bright star

N6664: Also near a bright star but more separated.

N6709: Triangular OC

N6755: Faint and small

N6712: Faint, round, fairly large

N6934: Small, fairly bright, near a double star

N6866: Barely separated from the very rich field.

N6888: Did not detect!  Disappointed.

M29: Mini butterfly, only ~10 stars

IC 10: Vaguest of arms, loose track of them, can't quite pull them together to see as a galaxy.  Pretty large, best seen medium power to darken the sky, I do see a round core with small slightly brighter core a bit disjointed from the arms.

N147: Faint, elongated, seen right away, medium power

N185: Very extremely faint, small, more of a contrast change in the sky, medium power.

N225: Not well separated form rich field.

N281: can see dark nebula crennelations in a milky nebulous field.

N436: Chevron shaped OC, faint stars

Tr 3: Loose, shaped like a balloon with a group of stars in a circle and a set trailing off in a curved line.

N654: Pretty red star with a sprinkle of faint stars.

N663: Fairly bright, makes a loop of stars.

N659: Small faint group, averted vision reveals more stars in the cluster

N896: Small faint wedge of faint stars bent around a moderately brighter star 

St2: Large group, does not quite fit the lowest power field, a loose but rich cloud of nearly same magnitude white stars.

N957: Very faint, small cluster, elongated, with a red star intermingled.

31 august 2026

I've been observing very infrequently, making small progress on rebuilding the shed and refitting the 20-inch.  Nights are slowly getting longer but we frequently have fog rolling in early, and generally average seeing and poor transparency.  So far I've completed the shed and reassembled the 20-inch and built removable wheels and handles so I can easily move the scope fully assembled into and out of the shed.  I need to finish rewiring the ServoCat and expect to receive a new eFinder in a few weeks.  So, considerable progress.  I've continued using DSP for my logs as ST3 continues to give me problems.  Here are some additional observations made over the month of August.  

STF 2078 AB: 178; 140x: Bright pair, light white A and light blue B, 1 Dm, well split, forms triple with nearby bright white star.  -29% PRO, it is not binary.

16h 36m 13.72s +52° 55' 27.8" P.A. 104.00 sep 3.0 mag 5.38,6.42 Sp B9.5V dist. 126.42 pc (412.38 l.y.)

STF 2092 AB: 178; 140x: Well separated, 1 Dm.  6% PRO, 1271 AU WS, 1.7+1.3 Msol, there is some chance it is binary, and orbit can be tried.

16h 39m 03.98s +60° 41' 58.8" P.A. 5.00 sep 8.2 mag 8.69,9.64 Sp G1IV dist. 118.34 pc (386.03 l.y.)

STF 2099 AB: 178; 200x Near the roof line, so a lot of turbulence.  Very faint wide B seen with averted vision only.  -53% PRO, it is not binary.

16h 38m 21.31s +70° 20' 18.4" P.A. 215.00 sep 9.8 mag 9.45,10.90 Sp K0

STF 2117 AB: 178; 280x: Can hold faint B with foveal coaxing, well split at high power.  -47% PRO it is not binary.

16h 58m 06.11s +51° 47' 40.2" P.A. 91.00 sep 1.4 mag 9.17,10.61 Sp G5

STF 2118 AB: 178; 200x: Nice clean close split, near equal, white.  43% PRO, 76 AU WS, 1.6+1.5 Msol, it is likely binary.  SOC grade 3 orbit, 321-year period, it is starting to close from apastron.

16h 56m 25.32s +65° 02' 20.6" P.A. 65.00 sep 0.9 mag 7.07,7.30 Sp F2IV dist. 69.93 pc (228.11 l.y.)

STF 2130 AB: 178x; 200x: Split low through high powers.  Well seen at 140x, light yellow-white pair, near equal good split, nice colors and diffraction rings at high powers.  63% PRO, 63 AU WS, 1.4+1.4 Msol, it is likely binary (a negative PMV but this is because the secondary is moving backwards to the general PM -- which is why I don't like PM as a determination of binarity).  SOC grade 3 orbit, 424-year period, it will hang to the N for a couple more decades.

17h 05m 20.20s +54° 28' 14.3" P.A. 356.00 sep 2.6 mag 5.66,5.69 Sp F7V dist. 27.43 pc (89.48 l.y.)

STF 2146 AB: 178; 280x: Difficult, faint B held with foveal coaxing, extremely fine, 3 Dm.  It seems this is the edge of what's possible with this aperture and sky?  No Gaia data for B; an orbit should be tried.

17h 13m 06.26s +54° 08' 20.9" P.A. 224.00 sep 2.5 mag 8.71,10.56 Sp ms ms dist. 108.81 pc (354.94 l.y.)

STF 2300 AB: 178; 140x: White A and faint, well separated B.  Fainter D, held with foveal coaxing, makes a triangle with this pair.  -94% PRO, it is not binary.

18h 09m 18.77s +59° 45' 02.9" P.A. 51.00 sep 12.1 mag 9.24,11.12 Sp A2

STF 2309 AB: 178; 140x: B flashes much brighter, like beacon, with averted vision.  Wide, slightly unequal.  41% PRO, 1178 AU WS, 2.1+1.8 Msol, RVD 0.5 < EV 2.4, 0.08 PMV -- it is possibly binary and needs an orbit (despite Stelle Doppie saying it's not physical).

18h 20m 06.84s +25° 31' 53.0" P.A. 352.00 sep 3.4 mag 9.31,9.95 Sp A0 dist. 180.51 pc (588.82 l.y.)

STF 2311 AB: 178; 140x: Very fine unequal faint pair, at the tip of a triangle similar magnitude stars.  -68% PRO, it is not binary.

18h 22m 14.28s +11° 26' 00.7" P.A. 84.00 sep 3.0 mag 9.65,10.79 Sp K5 dist. 243.31 pc (793.68 l.y.)

STF 2314 AB: 178; 140x: Faint, well separated.  83% PRO, 199 AU WS, 1.1+0.8 Msol, it is possibly binary and needs an orbit.

18h 23m 25.75s +23° 27' 19.1" P.A. 331.00 sep 2.7 mag 9.02,10.31 Sp G5 dist. 76.45 pc (249.38 l.y.)

STF 2320 AB: 178; 420x: Surprisingly difficult, B is quite faint, blue, and on the inside edge of A's diffraction ring, 420x-500x, needed higher magnification to separated.  58% PRO, 334 AU WS, 3.2+2.1 Msol, it is possibly binary and needs an orbit.

18h 27m 45.89s +24° 41' 50.8" P.A. 358.00 sep 1.0 mag 7.14,8.90 Sp B9V dist. 256.41 pc (836.41 l.y.)

STF 2323 AB: 178; 200x: Bright white A and light blue-white and much fainter B, good separation with 140x, nicely seen with 200x.  30% PRO, 220 AU WS, 2.3+1.2 Msol, it is likely binary.  SOC grade 4 orbit, 2455-year period.

18h 23m 54.65s +58° 48' 02.1" P.A. 347.00 sep 3.7 mag 5.06,8.07 Sp A1V dist. 56.47 pc (184.21 l.y.)

STF 2333 AB: 178; 140x: Near equal light orange stars, well split. -12% PRO, it is not binary.

18h 31m 06.94s +32° 14' 43.4" P.A. 333.00 sep 6.3 mag 7.82,8.57 Sp B9IV dist. 216.92 pc (707.59 l.y.)