variety

I focussed my observing last night -- after a long cloudy spell -- on double stars in Pegasus.  But as I review my notes I see a nice variety of objects observed:

During nightfall I used my 8x56 binoculars to have a look at the two day old moon.  There were hints of craters along the terminator, broken-up shadows.  The best was the earthshine, which was a bluish grey and a similar color to the sky nearer the horizon but the moon was offset by the dark sky around it.

In the 12.5-inch I looked at Mars for a while.  Yes, it's still up, and still showing detail but much further away than at opposition.  Mare Sirenum darkened southern quarter, along with what appeared to be a thin ice cap.  Seeing was not great but did well enough; 277x and a planetary filter.  Venus was too low for the telescope so I viewed with binoculars; not enough magnification to show detail.

I noticed that the summer constellations were still pretty high and, from my back yard, still in the "dark" area of the sky -- seems the bay to the west of me helps with the light domes which surround me.  I first had a look at the double double (STF 2382 & 2383), nice and clear, then Zeta Lyrae 1 & 2, and then down to M57, the Ring Nebula, which surprisingly showed up well, looking like a cell, with the 14th magnitude companion star showing consistently and sharpened when the seeing stilled.  This was a surprising view.  Then to the "other" double-double in Lyra, STF 2470 & 2474: wider and tinged with orange, but lovely nonetheless.

Finally, I ended the quick tour with M13, which was pretty low but very nice, with what must be a hundred stars resolved across its face.

Then on to double stars.  Seeing was merely good, and transparency was fair (heavy dew), so I stayed at 553x throughout and did not seriously try for any super close pairs or with high delta magnitudes.

EE Peg: I knew I didn't have a chance at this, but I remembered seeing it in the Carro Catalog and had a look.  Just a star.  It's primary is 6.8 but there's no magnitude for the secondary, which is 0.1" separated.

STFA 56 / 3 Peg: Very wide separation, ~1 magnitude difference, 7 & 8.  [6.18, 7.5; 39.1"]

4 Peg: Very wide separation; ~7th mag. A, and very faint ~10-11 mag. B.  PA to the west. [5.67, 11.8; 27.2" PA 335°]

STF 2848: Very wide separation ~same magnitude, though B is a little fainter and redder.  [7.21, 7.73; 10.9"]

STF 2857: Around 3 magnitudes difference, very wide separation, PA to the east.  [7.14, 9.8; 20.1", PA 112°]

Anonymous near 21 Peg: Bright A, but no star closeby.  Very faint star, very wide, to the north could be B?

20 Peg: Two stars suspected to be B, both to west.  The closer of the two is very much fainter than the A.  Nothing closeby.  [5.6, 11.1; 58.9", PA 322°.  Based on this I'd say the closer of the two was the B.]

STF 2854: ~2 disk separation, PA to the WSW, ~ same magnitude.  [7.77, 7.89; 1.8"; PA 84° -- which is reverse of my estimate but still "correct" if the A and B are reversed!]

Cou 14: Seeing is too poor.  B is either the very faint star popping out when seeing stills, to the west; or a fleeting brightening in the diffraction.  [5.94, 6.94; 0.2", PA 65°.  So, not seen.]

STF 2834: Yellow A, very faint red B ~4-5 disk separation.  Seeing needs to still.  PA to the west.  [6.93, 9.89; 4.1", PA 298°].

STF 2841: Orange & blue, very wide separation, ~2 magnitude difference.  [6.45, 7.99; 22.3"]

h947: White A much fainter blue; B widely separated, PA to the north.  [5.78, 11.39; 18.9" PA 98°.  My PA seems way off, or perhaps I did not see the B.]

STF 2877: Orange A.  Suspect extremely faint B to WNW, ~5" separated; only when seeing stills.  [6.65, 9.23; 23.3" PA 24°.  I'd say not seen.  This should have been a more obvious split.]

I took a little break to scan about with my 7x35 binoculars, to see how nice Cassiopeia would look.  Without the binoculars I noticed a satellite travelling to the north, splitting between Cassiopeia and Cepheus, when a meteor streaked through the area headed west.  It was pretty long, about 20°, and brightened twice during its fall, leaving smoke trails where it brightened for about a second.

With the 7x35s I also looked at M31, which was an unimpressive smudge, and the Double Cluster, which was a small faint dual brightening.  Then I noticed a bright patch above the eastern neighbor's roof: the Pleiades.  Already!  They were lovely in the binoculars.  Walking to the far end of the yard I was able to take in the Hyades, as well.  I had taken so much time with the binoculars it was time to go in.  Before stepping inside I noticed Orion, mostly blocked by neighbor's houses, starting to rise -- winter coming.