transit of mercury

Yesterday morning was a unique event, the transit of Mercury across the sun.  It was to be half-way across by the time the sun rose in the Bay Area slightly before 7am PST.  A few weeks ago I booked a campsite at Fremont Peak expecting to camp out to stay above any possible marine layer fog.  But for a few days I had a lingering sore throat, so I didn't want to spend a night in the cold.  So, the plan changed where I would get up before 6am and check the sky: if fogged over, I'd drive to some nearby ridge (I planned Henry Coe State Park); if no fog we could observe from home.  We arranged with some friends to meet us at Henry Coe and go hiking afterward.  I readied everything the night before, cars gassed up and just waiting for direction.

As it turned out, there was no fog, so we were able to spend a pleasant morning at home.  The sun cleared Mission Peak it was shining down on the sidewalk and street a little after 7am.  Clara and I set-up the 70mm (actually 48mm with mask) refractor with solar projection funnel, and we could quickly see the tiny dot a little off center.  I moved the scope several times around the sidewalk and street since some distant trees were casting shadows as the sun rose higher.  I started making sketches and notes.

A little later the sun began to show in our back yard, so I moved the scope back there and set-up two more: my PST solar scope and Valerie's 6" f4 with full aperture white light filter.  The PST was freshly repaired with a new objective lens and filter, and I received it back from the manufacturer on Saturday, just in time.  It showed really nice views of prominences, of which there were several: fountains, fans, and spikes, a couple of arches, including one very bright one, and several broken arches.  The 6" showed Mercury as a sharp disk and was a very good view.  Surprisingly there were no sunspots.

Our friends came over during the mid-morning and we enjoyed the views.  It was fun to observe from home since people could break away and do other things, then come back a little later for an update on Mercury's progress.  I had to move the scopes around the yard a couple of times since the meridian tree was casting shadows.  Fortunately there was always some area in the yard where we could set-up.

Toward the end of the transit Mercury could be seen to moved almost real time -- the sun's limb was closer to it and acted as a frame of reference.  As it started to make third contact we could see the little circular nibble Mercury made.  It was best in the 6" but I could even see it on the 70mm's projection screen.  I had Clara stay at the eyepiece of the 6" to watch Mercury finish its transit, since I wanted her to see such an amazing event and remember it.  I asked her to promise to wheel me out of the nursing home to see the next North American Mercury transit thirty years from now, the morning of 7 May 2049.  This one will also be about halfway over when the sun rises in the west, so if we're still here & the weather is clear the events of the day should unfold the same way they did yesterday.

key to double star catalogs

There is a very good key to double star catalogs in Appendix D of the Cambridge Double Star Atlas. I found another list which seems fairly complete elsewhere on-line, and added additional ones to that, making the below list. For future reference:

A - Aitken, R.G.

AC - Clark, Alvan

ADS - ADS catalog

AG - AG catalog

AGC - Clark, A.G.

ALD - Alden, H.L.

ALI - Ali, A.

ALT - van Altena, W.

ARA - Aravamudan, S.

ARG - Argelander, F.

B - Bos, W.H. van den

BAL - Baillaud, R.

BAR - Barnard, E.E.

BHA - Bhaskaran, T.P.

BLZ - Balz, A.

BOW - Bowyer, W.M.

BRD - Bird, F.

BRT - Barton, S.G.

BSO - Brisbane Obs.

BU - Burnham, S.W.

BVD – Benavides, R.

CBL – Caballero, R.

COO - Cordoba Obs.

COU - Couteau, P.

CPO - Cape Observatory

D - Dembowski, E.

DA - Dawes, William R.

DAW - Dawson, B.H.

DON - Donner, H.F.

DOO - Doolittle, E.

DOR - Dorpat Obs.

DU - Duner, N.C.

DUN - Dunlop, J.

EGB - Egbert, H.V.

EGG - Eggen, O.J.

ELS - Ellison, M.A.

ES - Espin, T.E.

FEN - Fender, F.G.

FIL - Filipov, M.L.

FIN - Finsen, W.S.

FOX - Fox, P.

GAL - Gallo, J.

GAN - Anderson, G.

GAU - Gauchet, P.L.

GCB - Giacobini, M.

GLE - Gale, W.F.

GLI - Gilliss, J.M.

GLP - Glasenapp, S.

GRB - Groombridge, S.

GYL - Goyal, A.N.

H - Herschel, William

HAU - Haupt, H.

HDO - Harvard Obs.

HSO – Hipparcos Catalog

HEI - Heintz, W.D.

HIL - Hill, L.

HJ - Herschel, John

HLD - Holden, E.S.

HLM - Holmes, E.

HLN - Holden, F.

HO - Hough, G.W.

HRG - Hargrave, L.

HTG - Hastings, C.S.

HU - Hussey, W.J.

HWE - Howe, H.A.

I - Innes, R.T.A.

J - Jonckheere, R.

JC - Jacob, W.S.

JNS - Jones, G.L.

JOH - Johnson, E.L.

JOY - Joy, A.H.

JSP - Jessup, M.K.

KNP - Knipe, G.F.

KNT - Knott, G.

KR - Kruger, E.C.

KU - Kustner, F.

KUI - Kuiper, Gerard P.

L - Lewis, T.

LAL - Lalande, F. de

LAM - Lamont, J. von

LCL - Lacaille, N.L.

LDS – Luyten, W.J. (includes PM catalog)

LEO - Leonard, F.C.

LPM - Luyten p.m. catalog

LPO - La Plata Obs.

LUY - Luyten, W.J.

LV - Leavenworth, F.

MA - Madler, J.H.

MLB - Milburn, W.

MLF - Muller, F.

MLL - Mitchell, S.A.

MLO - Melbourne Obs.

MLR - Muller, P.

MRL - Morel, P.

NZO - New Zealand Obs.

OL - Olivier, C.P.

OLE - Olevic, D.M.

PAN - Pannuzzio, R.

PLQ - Paloque, E.

POL - Pollock, J.A.

POP - Popovic, G.

POU - Pourteau, A.

PRO - Perth Obs.

PRZ - Przbyllok, E.

PTT - Pettitt, E.

PZ - Piazzi, G.

R - Russell, H.C.

RMK - Rumker, C.

ROE - Roe, E.D.

RST - Rossiter, R.A.

S - South, J.

SCJ - Schjellerup, H.

SE - Secchi, A.

SEE - See, T.J.

SEI - Scheiner, J.

SHJ - South & Herschel, J.

SHY – Shaya E. & Olling R.

SKF – Skiff, B.A.

SKI - Skinner, A.N.

SLR - Sellors, R.P.

SMW - Simonov, G.V.

ST - Stearns, C. L.

STF - Struve, F.G.W.

STI - Stein, J.

STN - Stone, O.

STT - Struve, Otto

TAY - Taylor, P.H.

TDS – Tycho Catalog

TDT – Tycho Catalog

TOK – Tokovinin, A.

TOR - Torino Obs.

UC – USNO Astrographic Catalog

VDK - Vanderdonck, J.

VOU - Voute, J.G.

WAK - Walker, R.L.

WEI - Weisse, M.

WG - Wrigley, R.W.

WHC - Wilson, H.C.

WHE - Wood, H.E.

WNC - Winnecke, A.

WNO - Washington Obs.

WOH - Wood, H.

WOR - Worley, C.E.

WRH - Wilson, R.H.

4 november 2019

Transparency was poor last night, with some light dew and lingering smoke haze.  But seeing was pretty good, about 7/10, with moments of better.  So while I could not go after faint pairs, I could get some very close pairs, which is always exciting.  I viewed the moon after dinner in the binoviewer, then started in with doubles after 9pm.  I adjusted the offset from GMT in the Argo, and that fixed the pointing error I had the night before.  However my laptop's clock did not automatically adjust to daylight savings, and I turned in an hour earlier than I wanted to, thinking it was time for bed!

STI 1437 AB: 8" 533x: Obvious pair, wide, ~15" or so, one delta mag [not physical]
00h 49m 32.95s +55° 33' 54.4" P.A. 299 sep 11.1 mag 9.73,10.98 Sp A0

BU 232 AB: 8" 533x: Nice, well split, near equal. Part of a triple, the next one much wider in same PA and two delta mag. [AB-C is 10.06 24.5"]
00h 50m 25.10s +50° 37' 49.6" P.A. 256.4 sep 0.85 mag 8.46,8.79 Sp F5 dist. 101.11 pc (329.82 l.y.)

MLR 27: 20" 1067x: ! Split with seeing, tremulous in turbulence but does split when settled. Noticeable delta mag.
00h 51m 10.71s +60° 18' 54.2" P.A. 212 sep 0.5 mag 10.23,10.16 Sp F5

BU 1 AB: 20" 533x: L shape asterism and the short end tip star has a faint close star, AB. There's a zigzag of four faint stars making an arc beyond this short L. Given this is really an open cluster this is not surprising. [not physical]
00h 52m 49.22s +56° 37' 39.5" P.A. 83 sep 1.5 mag 8.58,9.33 Sp O6.5V dist. 3030.3 pc (9884.84 l.y.)

STI 1460: 20" 533x: B is a faint star, pretty wide, unremarkable [not physical]
00h 52m 55.81s +55° 20' 16.9" P.A. 92 sep 9.6 mag 9.20,12.90 Sp A5 dist. 578.03 pc (1885.53 l.y.)

STF 70 AB: 20" 533x: Yellow-white A and widely separated B, a small point, 3 delta mag
00h 53m 47.53s +52° 41' 21.6" P.A. 247 sep 8.1 mag 6.33,9.49 Sp A0 dist. 88.42 pc (288.43 l.y.)

HU 1018 AB: 20" 533x: Excellent pair, near equal, ~1", very fine.
00h 54m 14.98s +51° 08' 12.0" P.A. 61 sep 0.9 mag 9.88,10.27 Sp K0 dist. 76.86 pc (250.72 l.y.)

A 1258 AB: 20" 1067x: ! Yes! I got it split, what a sight! Suspected at 533x. Reddish A, 1 delta mag brighter than blue B. Perfect star images. Nice color pair.
00h 54m 23.37s +54° 31' 41.0" P.A. 202 sep 0.6 mag 9.73,9.90 Sp G0

HU 802: 20" 1067x: ! Hairline split to overlapping, 1 delta mag, super fine
00h 54m 53.84s +49° 24' 18.9" P.A. 222 sep 0.4 mag 7.81,10.01 Sp A0 dist. 364.96 pc (1190.5 l.y.)

TDS1665 AB: 20" 1067x: ! Can tell is double, elongated, and I got one split in ten seconds, seeing needs to be perfect.
00h 55m 08.24s +57° 13' 30.8" P.A. 30 sep 0.5 mag 10.47,10.54

TDS1667 AB: 20" 533x: Pretty well split once it resolves out of the haze into two near equal points.
00h 55m 25.53s +59° 50' 59.9" P.A. 296 sep 0.6 mag 10.59,10.63

ES 405 AB: 20" 533x: Pretty, near equal white stars, wide separation
00h 55m 41.89s +57° 47' 06.1" P.A. 117 sep 4.4 mag 10.24,10.36

TDS1670 AB: 20" 1067x: ! Rather wide, well split with seeing, bluish stars due to faintness. Very nice pair.
00h 55m 57.82s +58° 32' 38.9" P.A. 26 sep 0.7 mag 11.58,11.61

HLD 4: 20" 533x: Yellowish stars, nicely split, a near equal. [this pair is widening, will get a little easier, was 1" at discovery in 1881 -- Holden, Lick director.]
00h 57m 35.79s +54° 23' 44.8" P.A. 52.7 sep 0.45 mag 9.00,9.50 Sp G0

3 November 2019

With daylight savings time I started to observe shortly before dinner, this time the quarter moon.  Seeing was quite good, and I was pleased that the cheap 25mm Meade eyepieces I used in the binoviewer.  It was a trick to find the right eye position but once there the contrast was quite good.  There was so much amazing detail to be seen.

After evening chores, I went out again at 9pm.  My computer needed to do an update so in the meantime I slewed over to BU 1, a lovely "L" set of stars with a close pair at the tip of the small L.  There was an arc of three faint stars above it, which disappeared when I put the 8" mask on.  I didn't need the mask however since I was getting perfect airy disks at full aperture.

Once the PC was working, I had a lot of trouble slewing to targets.  As I think about it now, I likely need to reset the Argo's clock due to daylight savings time.  It was frustrating, since seeing was so good (though transparency is still hurt with wildfire smoke.

I more or less gave up and decided to have a look at Uranus, which was just clearing the meridian tree.  I needed to slew around a bit to find it, but it really looked great.  At 333x it was a beautiful light blue orb, and I could see some faint small dark swirls in the disk, and one side of it had a buff color to it.  I could also see two faint moons, which disappeared with the 8" mask.

Seeing is to be good again tonight, but there is still a lot of smoke haze in the air.  Hope it will still be a good night.

30 october 2019

The sky the last few nights have been obscured by smoke from the Kincaid Fire, and the winds which were driving it. During the worst it seemed like a dry hurricane: murky orange sky with wind and leaves and falling branches. Last night was an improvement, mostly calm at ground level, clear-ish, but upper level seeing was poor and the sky was still compromised with smoke haze. I only used the 8" mask, and even then had to keep the magnifications low (for me), 121x & 205x. Ordinarily I would just pack it in on such a poor night, but instead I pointed the scope to what seemed the darkest sky above, in eastern Cygnus, and generated a list of stars with >15" separation. Somehow some stars with less than this were included. In any case I had a good enough session. It was cut short after an hour because the power to the controller and DSC was interrupted twice, and since I didn't have batteries in the Argo I lost my alignment. Maybe the powered ground board contacts had debris or something from sitting too long, so I spun the scope around in azimuth a couple of times to free it up.

STF 2758 AB: 8" 121x:61 Cyg. Nice near equal wide orange pair, bright [18 stars in system -- if so should be an OC]
21h 06m 53.95s +38° 44' 57.9" P.A. 152.6 sep 31.78 mag 5.20,6.05 Sp K5V+K7V dist. 3.49 pc (11.38 l.y.)

STF 2762 AB: 8" 121x: V389 Cyg. A is white, quite bloated in this poor seeing night, can see three delta mag tan color B, very close split, need seeing to settle.
21h 08m 38.87s +30° 12' 20.5" P.A. 303 sep 3.4 mag 5.70,8.10 Sp B9V dist. 115.74 pc (377.54 l.y.)

SEI 1404 AB: 8" 121x: Attractive, if faint, pair, near equal, wide.
21h 06m 31.68s +36° 44' 32.6" P.A. 308 sep 24 mag 10.50,10.80

STF 2760 AB: 8" 121x: Nice pair, well split, ~4", a little more than 1 delta mag, palin white A and yellowish B. [not physical]
21h 06m 46.78s +34° 07' 56.2" P.A. 33 sep 5.3 mag 7.90,8.74 Sp A4III dist. 137.17 pc (447.45 l.y.)

SEI 1407 AB: 8" 121x: White and 3x fainter B, wide, probably 10" or more, pretty field [not physical. CTT 16 AC is 11.30 29.3" not noticed as part of the system.]
21h 07m 12.26s +36° 57' 00.6" P.A. 274 sep 13.8 mag 8.18,10.75 Sp A0 dist. 1492.54 pc (4868.67 l.y.)

ES 2060 AB: 8" 121x: Very faint, need averted vision to bring out the B star clearly, very close ~4" separation. [not physical].
21h 07m 34.85s +37° 59' 45.6" P.A. 249 sep 5.7 mag 11.51,11.10

S 779: 8" 121x: Very wide 2 delta mag, how think this is binary? [not physical]
21h 09m 08.32s +38° 43' 45.1" P.A. 9 sep 110.5 mag 7.61,9.57 Sp K2 dist. 537.63 pc (1753.75 l.y.)

SEI 1422 AB: 8" 121x: Pretty white A and orange B, 3 delta mag, well separated. [not physical]
21h 09m 52.66s +36° 59' 10.2" P.A. 330 sep 20.5 mag 8.98,10.70 Sp F8

HU 1309 AB: 8" 205x: ! Suspected at 121x, moved up to 205x to see the tremulous B star very faint next to A, very close, good view with seeing.
21h 10m 10.16s +37° 25' 46.7" P.A. 171 sep 3 mag 10.30,11.30

SEI 1429 AB: 8" 205x: Wide, 1 delta mag, unremarkable
21h 10m 27.38s +38° 51' 11.7" P.A. 351 sep 25.1 mag 9.86,11.01 Sp A2

SEI 1425 AB: 8" 205x: Nice pair, wide, more than 1 delta mag. Pretty
21h 10m 27.03s +32° 15' 28.2" P.A. 34 sep 21.4 mag 9.34,11.76 Sp G5

STT 431 AB: 8" 205x: ! Near equal yellow-white stars ~3" or a little less, nice!
21h 11m 30.87s +41° 14' 28.7" P.A. 126 sep 2.6 mag 8.80,8.99 Sp F8 dist. 102.88 pc (335.59 l.y.)

SEI 1438 AB: 8" 205x: Wide about two delta mag. Another double in field, wide near equal.
21h 11m 47.71s +32° 11' 04.0" P.A. 93 sep 22.5 mag 9.64,11.90

HAU 27 AB: 8" 205x: Blue-white stars, 3 delta mag, nice star field
21h 11m 48.53s +29° 42' 42.1" P.A. 297 sep 50 mag 6.81,10.12 Sp B5III dist. 277.01 pc (903.61 l.y.)

BUP 227 AB: 8" 205x: Zeta Cyg. Could b any number of faint wide stars about. [7 star system, not physical.]
21h 12m 56.19s +30° 13' 36.9" P.A. 205 sep 65.2 mag 3.30,11.70 Sp G8III dist. 43.88 pc (143.14 l.y.)

21 october 2019

Last night's seeing was forecast to be pretty good, but turned out it was ok from 9pm to 10pm but then it was lost. Continued to be plagued with poor transparency, with a low light fog in the air. Tried my best, but only observed for ninety minutes. All the same, a couple of nice finds.

Also I really need to do my Super Calibration on the Argo. I find myself passing over fainter pairs so I could land on a brighter star, since I know I need to adjust my slew slightly in order to find the target star. If my pointing accuracy would reliably land a target in my tiny 0.15* FOV, then I would have confidence to slew to non-obvious and faint pairs...

STT 454 AB: 20" 533x: Bright white A and about 3 delta mag bluish B, pair, ~7"
21h 56m 04.91s +24° 20' 23.6" P.A. 278 sep 7.4 mag 7.97,10.04 Sp A0 dist. 271.74 pc (886.42 l.y.)

A 303 AB: 20" 533x: ! Slightly orange A star and very faint blue B, ~4", just seen direct vision. Very nice.
21h 55m 29.91s +27° 23' 35.6" P.A. 52 sep 2.3 mag 9.22,11.63 Sp G5 dist. 207.47 pc (676.77 l.y.)

ES 526 AB: 20" 533x: Light orange A star and B noticed with averted vison, flashes out clearly. Suspected with direct vision but not steady. Pretty wide ~7"
21h 56m 32.33s +26° 13' 04.1" P.A. 95 sep 9.6 mag 9.25,13.40 Sp K7

TDT3270 AB: 20" 1067x: Poor transparency hurting me, but in the elongated haze two separate points flash momentarily, very brief and very small, hairline.
21h 58m 43.85s +22° 57' 57.9" P.A. 270 sep 0.5 mag 10.81,10.87

J 2365 AB: 20" 533x: Pretty, near equal white stars ~6".
22h 10m 48.95s +21° 51' 18.9" P.A. 261 sep 5.5 mag 11.52,11.50

HO 294 AB: 20" 533x: ! When I first viewed the seeing was very rough, but after a couple of minutes it settled down so I could see a beautiful orange-yellow star resolved with a very faint reddish B ~3", nice hard points.
22h 37m 35.20s +27° 26' 22.8" P.A. 59 sep 1.9 mag 8.20,10.98 Sp F6V dist. 113.25 pc (369.42 l.y.)

TDT3670 AB, 20" 533x: Faint pair less than half delta mag, ~3"
22h 42m 48.92s +13° 30' 52.4" P.A. 309 sep 2.3 mag 11.44,11.80

STF 2941 AB: 20" 533x: Very pretty yellow and blue stars, ~3 delta mag, wide [not physical]
22h 45m 58.41s +19° 15' 00.9" P.A. 258 sep 14.8 mag 7.62,10.36 Sp K0

BRT2509 AB: 20" 533x: Near equal faint pair, ~5". Nice.
22h 49m 52.44s +19° 20' 10.3" P.A. 208 sep 4.5 mag 10.90,11.10

TDT 3774 AB: 20" 1067x: Very moderately elongated, but marginal since seeing is not holding up
22h 54m 08.44s +22° 36' 21.9" P.A. 281 sep 0.4 mag 9.65,9.82 Sp K2

20 october 2019

Observed last night with the 20" from about 8:30pm to 11:30pm. It gets dark enough now early that I can have good solid times to observe. Transparency was on the low end as seems to be typical now. Seeing started off pretty decent at 7/10 but actually improved to 8-9/10 after 10:15pm or so, and I was able to capture some pretty close pairs. A satisfying session, and I was able to use full aperture throughout. Very unfortunately I needed to wrap up since it was a work night; someday I'll not have to.

HJ 938 AB: 20" 333x: Orange star and widely separated B, only noticed with averted vision, then can briefly hold direct. [not physical]
21h 36m 25.16s +07° 52' 58.6" P.A. 123 sep 11.4 mag 7.80,11.80 Sp K2 dist. 142.45 pc (464.67 l.y.)

STT 443 AB: 20" 333x: Nice near equal pair, very light orange color stars, wide separation
21h 37m 37.05s +06° 42' 36.1" P.A. 349 sep 8.3 mag 9.47,9.67 Sp K2

ROE 128 AB: 20" 533x: Noticed as double @ 333x, but increased magnification to 533x for definitive split. Faint pair, one edge of direct vision for tonight's poor transparency, very close, about one delta mag, definite clean split >1"
21h 39m 07.47s +12° 51' 43.7" P.A. 264 sep 1.4 mag 10.50,10.80

AG 419 AB: 20" 533x: Light orange pair, about half delta mag and 5", rather pretty
21h 39m 55.27s +14° 27' 05.2" P.A. 223 sep 3.8 mag 9.70,10.50 Sp F8

HO 465 AB: 20" 533x: A is a pretty white-yellow star and the B and C pair are half delta mag, a little wide, though the two together are close. A is certainly not round with a PA slightly off perpendicular to the B and C position angle. viewed at twenty, five and barlow.
21h 46m 28.79s +22° 10' 28.1" P.A. 247 sep 44.7 mag 7.09,11.50 Sp A7IV dist. 167.22 pc (545.47 l.y.)

HDS 3101 Aa,Ab: 20" 1067x: A is certainly not round with a PA slightly off perpendicular to the B and C position angle.
21h 46m 28.79s +22° 10' 28.1" P.A. 18 sep 0.2 mag 7.24,9.59 Sp A7IV dist. 167.22 pc (545.47 l.y.)

BRT 2500 AB: 20" 533x: Easy pair, half delta mag, ~5" [not physical]
21h 48m 45.97s +21° 43' 36.8" P.A. 243 sep 4.6 mag 11.20,11.70

COU 14 AB: 20" 1067x: = 13 Peg. Out of round to notched, one fainter than the other, jittery but there. Used apodizing mask to settle diffraction.
21h 50m 08.64s +17° 17' 09.4" P.A. 207.8 sep 0.21 mag 5.74,6.94 Sp F2III-IV dist. 33.42 pc (109.02 l.y.)

WSI 24 AB: 20" 533x: Easy pair, wide, about one delta mag, one light orange other light blue color
21h 51m 22.68s +19° 15' 58.9" P.A. 24 sep 14.2 mag 10.60,10.90

BRT 2501 AB: 20" 533x: Two white stars ~5" and half delta mag [not physical]
21h 51m 37.79s +21° 34' 28.5" P.A. 324 sep 5.2 mag 10.60,10.70

HO 173 AB: 20" 533x: ! Very fine pair, almost one delta mag, very close but nicely split, <1", quite a sight
21h 55m 17.17s +18° 43' 11.7" P.A. 73 sep 0.9 mag 10.34,10.63

STT 452 AB: 20" 533x: ! Noticed split immediately, white stars, half delta mag, very cool split.
21h 55m 40.01s +07° 15' 13.9" P.A. 177 sep 0.8 mag 9.04,9.63 Sp F8 dist. 189.04 pc (616.65 l.y.)

STF 2848 AB: 20" 533x: Wide, bright white stars, half delta mag, ~10"
21h 58m 01.45s +05° 56' 25.3" P.A. 57 sep 10.9 mag 7.21,7.73 Sp Am+F2V dist. 625 pc (2038.75 l.y.)

A 304 AB: 20" 533x: ! Most definite clean split of one delta mag stars, very nice disks
21h 58m 30.37s +27° 24' 34.6" P.A. 131 sep 0.6 mag 9.52,9.33 Sp A2

STF 2850: 20" 533x: = OU Peg. ! Very beautiful pair, rich orange and blue, well separated, four or five delta mag.
21h 59m 49.60s +23° 56' 27.4" P.A. 264 sep 2.8 mag 7.00,11.00 Sp M5 dist. 621.12 pc (2026.09 l.y.)

HO 610 AB: 20" 533x: ! Superfine, split nicely, ~0.7", half delta mag. [three other wider >12th mag pairs not seen]
22h 02m 00.73s +26° 50' 46.6" P.A. 240 sep 0.7 mag 10.07,10.25 Sp G0

BRT 2840 AB: 20" 533x: Faint, about one delta mag, ~2", near another near equal pair
22h 06m 08.43s +20° 33' 57.6" P.A. 316 sep 2.4 mag 10.00,10.70

COU 136 AB: 20" 1067x: ! Awesome hairline at 533x, nice clean split at 1067x. The stars are split the diffraction patters merge at the boarders, perfect images. Appears more near equal than SkyTools data suggests.
22h 10m 02.22s +23° 07' 33.0" P.A. 17.1 sep 0.45 mag 9.20,7.56 Sp F6IV dist. 93.81 pc (306.01 l.y.)

CHR 106 AB: 20" 533x: SkyTools does not give a magnitude for the 0.5" paring, and none visible with 533x (with apodizing mask). suspect some error in data or maybe a k band [WDS note says "X Dubious double]
22h 10m 18.96s +19° 36' 59.6" P.A. 9 sep 0.5 mag 6.18, Sp G0V dist. 59.24 pc (193.24 l.y.)

EGG 4 AB: 20" 533x: Easy split, noticed right away, a bit more near equal magnitudes than SkyTools data.
22h 10m 57.51s +24° 29' 19.0" P.A. 150 sep 0.7 mag 9.48,9.37 Sp F7Vwe dist. 154.32 pc (503.39 l.y.)

MLB 723 AB: 20" 533x: Easy, if a bit faint; ~2" and one delta mag
22h 12m 00.90s +25° 46' 28.7" P.A. 339 sep 2.3 mag 10.00,10.50

HJ 958 AB: 20" 533x: Pretty one delta mag pair, wide separation. [High proper motion star]
22h 13m 09.96s +21° 47' 40.6" P.A. 233 sep 5.8 mag 9.89,10.64 Sp F8+G5

AG 281 AB: 20" 533x: Easy 1.5 delta mag, ~<3", slightly bluish stars
22h 14m 49.53s +21° 56' 59.3" P.A. 19 sep 2.7 mag 9.42,10.45 Sp F2 dist. 166.39 pc (542.76 l.y.)

COU 138 AB: 20" 533x: ! Wonderful faint pair, ~2" and two delta mag, very fine. Almost need averted vision but not quite.
22h 15m 16.25s +23° 53' 39.5" P.A. 37 sep 1.5 mag 11.44,11.90

TDT 3436 AB: 20" 1067x: Seems to stretch to N-S elongation but very marginal
22h 16m 17.12s +25° 46' 35.2" P.A. 186 sep 0.5 mag 10.62,10.79

HU 383 AB: 20" 1067x: ! Suspected split with 533x, but no question of split at 1067x, very nice split near equal stars.
22h 19m 36.43s +21° 07' 00.6" P.A. 27 sep 0.4 mag 9.91,10.07 Sp F5