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.)

3 august 2026

Similar conditions as the previous two nights, clear with pretty good seeing.  I decided to give my 6-inch f/15 refractor some exercise as it's been a couple of months since I last used it.  This scope has very good but perhaps not perfect optics -- while the 80mm f/15 I have mounted to it has very much perfect optics.  I tried to make sure to view through both of them through the night.

I observed off The Bedford Catalogue list, which are objects described by William Smyth in his book.  He also observed with a 6-inch (at f/17) from his back yard, so it's a fun project to compare my (more light polluted) observations with his.  He very much enjoyed describing color in stars, and his list makes a good survey of double stars with contrasting colors.

H 5 39: Vega and the faint stars around it.

18h 36m 56.33s +38° 47' 01.2" P.A. 185.00 sep 85.3 mag 0.09,9.50 Sp A0Va dist. 7.68 pc (25.05 l.y.)

STF 2362 AB: 152; 180x: 1 Dm close split pair, I can also resolve it with the 80mm at high power. 27% PRO, 428 AU WS, 1.7+1.3 Msol, it might be binary and needs an orbit.  Smyth called it "elegant" and "very neat," with A pale white and B lilac.

18h 38m 25.70s +36° 03' 11.3" P.A. 187.00 sep 4.3 mag 7.53,8.72 Sp A5 dist. 105.26 pc (343.36 l.y.)

STFA 37 AB,CD: Double-double.  Split at low power with the Nikon zoom, in the 6-inch showed perfect airy disks with a single diffraction ring looping around them.  Smyth is effusive about this pair.  I will note in his diagram he notices three faint stars in between the main pairs -- I remember only seeing one.

18h 44m 20.34s +39° 40' 12.4" P.A. 172.00 sep 209.4 mag 4.67,4.56 Sp A4V dist. 49.78 pc (162.38 l.y.)

STFA 38 AB: 152; 125x: Light yellow A, wide 1 Dm white B.  83% PRO, 2119 AU WS, 2.5+1.8 Msol, and RVD 1.2 < EV 1.9, it is likely binary and needs an orbit.  Smyth colors A topaz B greenish, which I do not see.

18h 44m 46.36s +37° 36' 18.4" P.A. 150.00 sep 43.9 mag 4.34,5.62 Sp F0IVv dist. 47.87 pc (156.15 l.y.)

H 5 40 AC: 152; 125x: Light yellow bright A, several faint stars around it.  None of the faint stars share parallax range, they are not binary.  Smyth calls it a "delicate set" and assigns bluish colors to the fainter stars, and notes some difficulties with the measures.

18h 49m 45.91s +32° 48' 46.2" P.A. 120.00 sep 57.5 mag 5.89,11.20 Sp B3IV dist. 401.61 pc (1310.05 l.y.)

Nu Lyr / 9 Lyr: 152; 125x: Light yellow star.

18h 49m 52.92s +32° 33' 03.9" 

STFA 39 AB: 152; 125x: Sheliak, Beta Lyrae.  Bright yellow in a triangle of stars, seen with both scopes.  None of the surrounding stars share parallax ranges, they are not binary (with the exception of spectroscopic binary CIA 3 Aa1,2).

18h 50m 04.79s +33° 21' 45.6" P.A. 148.00 sep 45.5 mag 3.63,6.69 Sp B7Ve+A8p dist. 294.99 pc (962.26 l.y.)

M57: Visible in both scopes.  In 80mm seen with low power as a very faint oval with brighter edges, view improved with higher powers which darkened the sky.  In the 6-inch it was brighter and more structured, with a thickness to the sides.  Smyth calls it "this aureola of glory." He notes Herschel first assuming it was composed of very faint and distant stars.  "A solid ring of light in the profundity of space."  He thought the center black and void but noted John Herschel and later Rosse reporting it being filled with nebulous light.

18h 53m 35.079s, +33° 01′ 45.03″

HJ 1362  : 152; 125x: Yellow-white A and wide 5 Dm faint B.  -58% PRO, it is not binary.  Smyth calls A white!

19h 01m 26.36s +46° 56' 06.1" P.A. 289.00 sep 46.9 mag 5.01,10.60 Sp A7V dist. 37.44 pc (122.13 l.y.)

STF 2461 AB: 152; 240x: 17 Lyr.  Excellent light-yellow A, split faint B on the outside edge of A's diffraction ring.  82% PRO, 159 AU WS, 2.0+0.7 Msol, it is likely binary and needs an orbit.  Smyth assigns light yellow to A and cerulean blue to B and calls it a "very beautiful and delicate object."

19h 07m 25.58s +32° 30' 06.2" P.A. 281.00 sep 3.2 mag 5.26,9.10 Sp F0V dist. 41.58 pc (135.63 l.y.)

STF 2469 AB: 152; 240x: Difficult!  Split at best moments, very fine split of extremely faint and small B.  30% PRO, 181 AU WS, 1.9+1.4 Msol, it is possibly binary and needs an orbit.  Smyth yellowish A and pale white B.

19h 07m 47.60s +38° 55' 41.6" P.A. 126.00 sep 1.3 mag 7.93,9.13 Sp A3 dist. 139.08 pc (453.68 l.y.)

STF 2472 AB: 152; 125x: Red star in center of large, loose, sparse open cluster Stephenson 1.  -93% PRO, it is not binary.  Smyth has the color as bright yellow and calls the cluster a "difficult compound object" I assume because of the faintness and number of the other stars.

19h 08m 33.73s +37° 54' 36.8" P.A. 340.00 sep 22.7 mag 8.38,10.44 Sp K0 dist. 219.78 pc (716.92 l.y.)

Delta Draconis: Lovely light-yellow star.  Smyth called it deep yellow.  

19h 12m 33.30 +67° 39′ 41.53

STF 2487 AB: 152; 125x: Lovely yellow A and wide faint B.  41% PRO, 9908 AU WS, 6.6+2.5 Msol, but RVD 3.9 > EV 1.3, it is not binary.  Smyth calls A sky blue and B violet tint.  

19h 13m 45.49s +39° 08' 45.5" P.A. 81.00 sep 28.4 mag 4.38,8.58 Sp B2.5IV dist. 425.53 pc (1388.08 l.y.)

M56: Seen with both scopes.  In the 80mm it is a washed-out stain, in the 6-inch 125x it is larger, irregularly round with ridged edges and faintly resolved stars throughout.

19h 16m 35.50s, +30° 11′ 04.2″

STF 2509 AB: 152; 180x: !! Beautiful fine split 1 Dm in the 6-inch, and I can resolve it with the 80mm at high power!  SOC grade 4 orbit 627-year period.  45% PRO, 141 AU WS, 1.6+1.3 Msol.  Smyth called both stars white, and a difficult pair.

19h 16m 53.09s +63° 12' 27.0" P.A. 329.00 sep 1.9 mag 7.44,8.17 Sp F6V dist. 78.25 pc (255.25 l.y.)

STF 2603 AB: 152; 125x: Tyl. Light yellow and 2 Dm blue B, split with low power in the 6-inch and high power in the 80mm, B sits just outside A's diffraction ring.  SOC grade 5 orbit 2753-year period.  62% PRO, 149 AU WS, 2.9+1.3 Msol.  For once my colors match Smyth's, light-yellow and blue.  

19h 48m 10.35s +70° 16' 04.5" P.A. 21.00 sep 3.1 mag 4.01,6.87 Sp G7IIIb dist. 45.37 pc (148 l.y.)

STF 2642 AB: 152; 125x: Seen in the 80mm, close split, B extremely faint but seen direct vision.  Easy, pretty pair in the 6-inch. -34% PRO, it is not binary.  Smyth pale white.
20h 05m 35.38s +63° 42' 19.5" P.A. 191.00 sep 1.8 mag 9.34,9.41 Sp G0 dist. 68.26 pc (222.66 l.y.)

STF 2675 AB: 152; 125x: Light-yellow A well separated from 2 Dm blue B, seen in 80mm too.  -3% PRO it is not likely binary.

20h 08m 53.32s +77° 42' 40.9" P.A. 121.00 sep 7.3 mag 4.39,8.34 Sp B9III dist. 96.53 pc (314.88 l.y.)

NGC 6939: Barely seen as a haze with some relatively brighter (faint) stars, in both scopes.  Smyth waxes: "the whole exhibits a grand but distinct collocation of suns, which are evidently bound together by mutual relations, under the energy of a force which, though reason asserts its existence, imagination fails in conceiving."  Back when observing was filled with wonder.

20h 31m 30s, +60° 39′ 42″

Eta Cep: Pretty light-yellow star.  Smyth calls it pale yellow.  

20h 45m 17.37s +61° 50' 19.6"

STF 2780 AB: 152; 240x: Notched elongation in the 80mm with high power, hairline split, unequal stars in the 6-inch.  Lacks Gaia parallax data.

21h 11m 48.24s +59° 59' 11.8" P.A. 211.00 sep 1.0 mag 6.09,6.77 Sp B0II dist. 1315.79 pc (4292.11 l.y.)

STF 2790 AB: 152; 180x: Light-orange A, well-split faint B, seen with 125x better at 180x.  -19% PRO, it is not binary.

21h 19m 15.69s +58° 37' 24.6" P.A. 45.00 sep 4.6 mag 5.85,9.27 Sp M1I+B2+B3 dist. 591.72 pc (1930.19 l.y.)

STF 2806 AB: 152; 125x: Alfirk. Bright white A, wide B is much fainter and appears blue-green.  Seen in 80mm too.  Analyzed before.  

21h 28m 39.58s +70° 33' 38.5" P.A. 248.00 sep 13.5 mag 3.17,8.63 Sp B1IV dist. 210.08 pc (685.28 l.y.)

STF 2816 AB: 152; 125x: ! Lovely arc of stars with a light-orange A and 1 Dm B & C both light blue.  Rich field, seen in both scopes.  This would be great to look at from a dark sky.  Not binary, analyzed before, too bad Smyth didn't have accurate parallax data.  He again enthuses about star movements: "Through all anomalies, here are palpable gleams of a force which penetrates through creation; and wonderous is the inference! Those mighty orbs move through space in a curve which it bewilders the mind to figure, obediently to a mysterious impulse which binds them in affinity with some vast central phenomenon."

21h 38m 57.61s +57° 29' 20.5" P.A. 120.00 sep 11.9 mag 5.73,7.48 Sp +B5V dist. 606.06 pc (1976.97 l.y.)

STF 2819 AB: 152; 125x: Lovely unequal wide pair, STF 2816 at edge of FOV.  97% PRO, 1304 AU WS, 1.8+1.4 Msol, it is possibly binary and needs an orbit.

21h 40m 21.45s +57° 34' 53.7" P.A. 59.00 sep 12.7 mag 7.44,8.64 Sp F5V

STF 2863 AB: 152; 125x: Kurhah, Xi Cephei. Light-yellow pair, wide, 2 Dm, seen in 80mm too.  92% PRO, 246 AU WS, 2.0+1.2 Msol, it is possibly binary and needs an orbit.  Smyth calls it "splendid," both "bluish."

22h 03m 47.45s +64° 37' 40.7" P.A. 275.00 sep 8.1 mag 4.45,6.40 Sp A3m dist. 29.59 pc (96.52 l.y.)

STF 2872 BC: 152; 240x: Out of round light-orange star, cannot resolve.  At the corner of a trapezium asterism.  Lacks Gaia parallax data.  Smyth describes the very wide AC pair.

22h 08m 34.12s +59° 17' 37.5" P.A. 296.00 sep 0.8 mag 7.98,8.00 Sp A1V

STFA 58 AC: 152; 125x: ! Delta Cephei.  Another one for a dark sky.  Very pretty light-yellow A, wide blue B, 2 Dm.  49% PRO, 11624 AU WS, 6.7+3.9 Msol, but RVD 3.1 > EV 1.3, it is not binary.  Smyth calls A "orange tint," B "fine blue," "the colours, under proportionately magnifying powers, being in fine contrast."

22h 29m 10.25s +58° 24' 54.7" P.A. 191.00 sep 41.0 mag 4.21,6.11 Sp F5Iab+B7 dist. 265.25 pc (865.25 l.y.)

2 august 2026

Another night out with the 20-inch, and again seeing wasn't what it could have been, so I masked down to 7-inches for most of it.  I observed for around an hour before turning in, tired.  Tonight, seeing is supposed to be excellent, so hope for better luck.

STF 2271 AB: 178; 200x: White A and dull red B, well separated, 1 Dm.  -41% PRO, it is not binary.

18h 00m 18.74s +52° 51' 15.4" P.A. 267.00 sep 3.5 mag 8.17,9.24 Sp G0 dist. 60.42 pc (197.09 l.y.)

STF 2280 AB: 178; 140x: Bright white near equal, wide.  95% PRO, 905 AU WS, 2.0+2.0 Msol, it is likely binary and needs an orbit.

18h 07m 49.56s +26° 06' 04.4" P.A. 183.00 sep 14.4 mag 5.81,5.84 Sp A3V dist. 49.6 pc (161.8 l.y.)

STF 2285 AB: 178; 140x: Faint, well separated, 1 Dm.  93% PRO, 1963 AU WS, 3.0+2.2 Msol, it is possibly binary and needs an orbit.

18h 09m 15.12s +13° 29' 06.2" P.A. 333.00 sep 3.6 mag 8.75,9.82 Sp A0 dist. 1408.45 pc (4594.36 l.y.)

STF 2289 AB: 178; 200x: Very pretty, nearly 1 Dm, closely split white stars.  31% PRO, 406 AU WS, 3.3+4.1 Msol, it is possibly binary and needs an orbit.

18h 10m 08.69s +16° 28' 35.0" P.A. 219.00 sep 1.3 mag 6.65,7.21 Sp A0V+G0III dist. 263.85 pc (860.68 l.y.)

STF 2294 AB: 178; 200x: Very light orange unequal stars, close split.  46% PRO, 108 AU WS, 1.4+1.3 Msol, it is possibly binary and needs an orbit.

18h 14m 33.68s +00° 10' 32.9" P.A. 93.00 sep 1.4 mag 8.22,8.55 Sp F2 dist. 114.42 pc (373.24 l.y.)

STF 2296 AB: 178; 280x: Faint reddish A and extremely faint small B seen with averted vision only and higher powers.  -43% PRO, it is not binary.

18h 15m 42.45s -03° 21' 27.6" P.A. 6.00 sep 3.2 mag 7.48,10.22 Sp K0 dist. 199.2 pc (649.79 l.y.)

STF 2300 AB: 178; 140x: White A and faint well separated B, fainter 11.8 magnitude D with foveal coaxing completes a triangle which explains why all were measured.  AB -94% PRO, not binary.  A 239 BC however share 27% PRO, 1326 AU WS, 1.5+1.1 Msol, RVD 1.1 < EV 1.8, and PMV 0.09, it is likely binary and needs an orbit. Aitken must have inferred its binarity from the PM data at the time.

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

BC: 18h 09m 20.03s +59° 45' 13.3" P.A. 188.00 sep 3.9 mag 11.12,13.40 Sp G0IV+G5V

STF 2311 AB: 178; 140x: Very fine unequal faint stars at the tip of a triangle similar magnitude stars (the asterism explaining why they were all measured).  -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 2323 AB: 178; 200x: Bright white A and light blue-white B, much fainter, good separation with low, power, nicely seen with medium.  30% PRO, 220 AU WS, 2.3+1.2 Msol, it is possibly binary and needs an orbit.

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.)

STF2333 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.)

STF 2395 AB: 178; 140x: Red A, B well separated but averted vision only.  -23% PRO, it is not binary.

18h 45m 03.66s +46° 08' 07.5" P.A. 308.00 sep 8.5 mag 7.89,10.49 Sp A0 dist. 236.97 pc (773 l.y.)

1 august 2026

Finally had a night to observe, after many weeks.  There have been many things working against observing: a very busy work schedule and some travel; tending to my wife during her recovery from an injury; spending time helping others with their scopes; and frequent marine layer overcast.  It doesn't help that in the summer darkness is not until very late, and with everything going on I lacked the willingness to set-up for just an hour's outing.  

Also, the wheels on the roll-away shed over my 20-inch scope were failing, and I dared not move the shed lest it collapse to the ground and I'd never get it back up again.  I ordered replacement wheels but they didn't help.  The shed is too heavy to roll away.  After much thought I decided to mount the shed on small piers and make it fixed.  This I did by preparing the ground with stone leveling the piers, then I carefully moved the shed one last time on its tracks, and used my car's auto jack to lift one end of the shed, place the piers underneath it, then lower the shed down.  This was very tricky because the weight of the shed far exceeded the limit of the car jack.  I set the other end of the shed on piers in a similar fashion, and have been working this weekend to install the floor and route the electrical lines.  I plan to build a tip-down ramp of a door, so that I don't have to fool with individual ramps.  I should have it done in a couple of weeks.  I bought a solar cover for the 20-inch, so I can just leave it outside, set-up, ready to go during our long dry season.  I think I'll only need the shed during the winter.

I also went down a binoviewing rabbit hole.  I wanted a set to use on all my scopes and especially for solar.  I have three different pairs of differing designs now.  I find the 6-inch f/15 is difficult to make binoviewer friendly, and I plan to shorten the tube.  I ended up getting a 5-inch f/7.5 APO at a good price, and its optics are outstanding.  I'm now in process to replace the stock focuser and to figure out which binoviewer set is worth keeping, once I figure out how to reach focus on all the various scopes.

In any event, I observed with the 20-inch last night.  The sky was very clear with good transparency.  Seeing was forecast to be better than it actually was, so I spent most of the time masked down to 7-inches.  Another thing I changed was my planetarium software.  I've used SkyTools3 for many years but it became glitchy and the developer will not support it anymore (only the ST4 version, which is imaging orientated and lacks basic functions like list sorting by column).  I switched to Deep Sky Planner, which works fine, except for the observation log, which is not as effortless as SkyTools.  

Given the seeing I went through Struve pairs.  I didn't know whether I observed these before (my logs not having made the transition to DSP), and I didn't log every pair seen -- just the more striking ones.  It was a fine 2 hours, and I stopped at 11:30pm from tiredness.  

STF 2011 AB: 178; 280x: >2 Dm, closely split 125-280x.  Analyzed previously

16h 07m 38.27s +28° 59' 43.6" P.A. 67.00 sep 2.6 mag 7.93,10.23 Sp A8IV dist. 307.69 pc (1003.68 l.y.)

STF 2022 AB: 178; 280x: Great pair, fairly bright A and very faint close B, seen 200-280x.  -35% PRO, it is not binary.

16h 12m 45.46s +26° 40' 14.0" P.A. 153.00 sep 2.5 mag 6.54,10.03 Sp F2V dist. 73.26 pc (238.97 l.y.)

STF 2028 AB: 508; 420x: Split with best moments using the 20-inch, suspected as double with lower powers.  White near equal stars, PA SE.  SOC Grade 3 orbit, 105.43-year period, currently at apastron but will remain near this separation to the SE through 2050.  Lacks Gaia parallax data.

16h 12m 48.11s +39° 21' 35.6" P.A. 145.00 sep 0.5 mag 9.88,9.14 Sp G0 dist. 67.2 pc (219.21 l.y.)

STF 2339 AB-CD: 178; 200x: Close pair, 2 Dm, off-white A and light blue B, nicely separated.  Lacks Gaia parallax data.  AB is HU 322 0.2" separation, did not see. 

18h 33m 45.62s +17° 43' 55.9" P.A. 274.00 sep 1.4 mag 7.45,8.67 Sp F6V dist. 183.49 pc (598.54 l.y.)

STF 2319 AB: 178; 140x: Lovely unequal, well split pair, forms a slightly off-kilter triangle with similar magnitude stars.  -23% PRO, it is not binary.

18h 27m 43.94s +19° 17' 43.9" P.A. 190.00 sep 5.3 mag 8.41,8.23 Sp F5 dist. 161.29 pc (526.13 l.y.)

STF 2315 AB: 508; 420x: White stars, 1 Dm, good split.  Lacks Gaia parallax data.  SOC grade 4 orbit, 2094-year period, so it's anyone's guess. 

18h 24m 58.46s +27° 23' 41.3" P.A. 115.00 sep 0.6 mag 6.57,7.77 Sp A0V+A4V dist. 117.51 pc (383.32 l.y.)

STF 2312 AB: 178; 280x: Faint pair, very close split, unequal, needed foveal coaxing to hold B.  60% PRO, 581 AU WS, 2.1+1.8 Msol, it is possibly binary and needs an orbit. 

18h 21m 09.08s +28° 20' 03.5" P.A. 341.00 sep 1.7 mag 9.28,9.91 Sp A0 dist. 404.86 pc (1320.65 l.y.)

STF 2309 AB: 178; 280x: Faint pair flashes like a beacon with averted vision.  Wide, unequal.  41% PRO, 1178 AU WS, 2.1+1.8 Msol, and RVD 0.5 < EV 2.4, it likely is binary and needs an orbit.

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 2314 AB: 178; 200x: 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, needed higher magnification to separate.  58% PRO, 334 AU WS, 3.2+2.1 Msol, it likely is 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.)

OR: Lake Sonoma, Hewett 1

I traveled up to Lake Sonoma to meet up with Muriel to help with the ServoCAT on one of her scopes, and to observe with her, Steve, and Randy and a couple others.  It was clear, with very good transparency, but a bit windy to start, not fully calming down until midnight.  Steve had a SQM reading of 21.4 around that time. 

I travelled light, bringing only my NP101.  I really only had one target in mind, planetary nebula Hewett 1 in Sextans, and had only the hour after astronomical dark to observe it before it set.  It's a large object, so a good small refractor was all that was required.  And a PVS-14 night vision device and filters, naturally.

According to the scientific literature, Hewett 1 is the largest known planetary nebula on the sky with an apparent diameter of about 2° in its brightest portion, corresponding to a linear diameter of 3.5-7.0 pc at the likely distance of 100-200 pc. It is surrounded by an elliptical emission shell with an apparent diameter of 6° × 9°.  A further emission structure, detected northeast of the central star, indicates another shell with a size of 10° × 16° (which is validated by contemporary imagers).  Based on the derived Galactic orbit for the central star PG 1034+001, its thin disk orbit and the morphology of the first halo suggest that the nebula is in an advanced stage of interaction with the interstellar medium.  PG 1034+001 is an extremely hot, helium-rich DO-type star that excites the planetary nebula Hewett 1 and large parts of the surrounding interstellar medium.  It's very unassuming 13th magnitude and is highlighted in the purple box in the below image.  Hewett 1 vies for the "closest" planetary nebula to earth along with SH2-216, at around 425 light-years distant.

As was reported in Astronomy magazine at the time of discovery in 2005, "Most planetary nebulae were discovered in images sensitive to the strong emission lines coming from the nebula’s excited hydrogen. By contrast, Hewett 1 was identified by emission lines from oxygen in the spectra of many background galaxies and quasars observed as part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The nebula’s large size caused many spectra to show oxygen’s characteristic emission-line signature."  

Having aligned my DSC I pointed my scope at NGC 3325, one of these background galaxies, which was slightly offset from the center of the nebula.  The NP101 with a 67mm Plossl+ has a 5-degree TFOV, and a magnification of 8x.  Flipping through the filters on my filter wheel, I immediately noticed a fairly faint elongated glow in a loose trapezium asterism with direct vision, no trouble at all. I flipped through various filters and could see it in Ha+OIII dual band, but 3nm Ha was best.  I was shocked I would find it so easily and called Steve over to have a look.  I asked him to look at the trapezium asterism and flipped the filter wheel to Ha while he was viewing through the eyepiece, and he too could easily see the nebula.  I remembered there was to be a larger outer shell to the northeast of the brightest central region, so I moved the scope in that direction.  With the brighter central region along one side of the field stop, I noticed a wide, long, curved, very faint contrast change with an obvious cut-off along the outer (northeastern) part of the arc.  It was quite difficult, and I moved the scope side-to-side to confirm it moved with the sky and wasn't an aberration.  I sketched what I saw intending to confirm it later.

Today, using Roman Perah's Hewett 1 - AstroBin, I matched the loose trapezium of stars the extent of the relatively brighter glow we saw, and also the gently curving ridge to the northeast:

North is to the lower left corner, east to the lower right corner; green outline of the portions I saw.

Bray Falls' image Hewett 1 - The Giant in Sextans - AstroBin (north down) shows the entire extent including the large outer shell (not seen by me) and greater detail of the bright areas, including what appear to be shadows cast by nebulous pillars on a sheet of nebula behind them -- in line with what would be PG 1034+001's glow:  

I was exhilarated and very happy to have achieved that night's mission.  I spent the rest of the time scanning with the NP101 both visually and with the PVS-14, not taking notes but revisiting old favorites.  A very nice night out.