summer viewing

The nights are very short now, such that it's not really dark until 10pm, leaving a scant 1 hour of viewing.  It is made up for a little with twilight views of Jupiter.  So the last couple of nights have been clear with good seeing, and I've been able to spend some time on Jupiter and some fine double stars in CVn

The night of the 17th found Jupiter in the midst of some complicated Galilean moon movements.  I should have checked the ephemeris in advance!  Io and Ganymede were approaching the limb for a transit, and Europa was heading to the opposite limb for an occultation.  Using the 12.5-inch at  443x I watched Io begin its transit and could still see its disk for quite a ways into the NEB.  Europa disappeared a few minutes later after hanging on the limb like a bright bump.  Finally and hour later I saw Ganymede start its transit, very near the north pole.  I wonder why the orbits are tilted so low, when the planet appears to be viewed square on?  I viewed some double stars for a while then about another hour later Io's shadow began its transit, just about the same point at which its disk touched the limb.  I viewed Jupiter again the following night, with plenty of turbulence in the bands, but there were no moon events.

Here are doubles viewed both nights:

@ 277x:

STT 250: no chance for the close 0.3" and 1 delta mag pair, but there is a faint 3 delta mag star pretty widely separated.
12H 24M 24.51S +43° 05' 15.0" P.A. 351 SEP 0.3 MAG 8.27,9.18 SP F0 DIST. 245.7 PC (801.47 L.Y.)

A 1781: Very fine faint pair, 1 delta mag, ~3"
12H 16M 19.33S +44° 43' 25.9" P.A. 302 SEP 2.8 MAG 10.23,11 SP G5

STF 1642: Very nice light orange and blue, 1 delta mag, ~3"
12H 25M 45.00S +44° 44' 04.4" P.A. 179 SEP 2.5 MAG 8.8,9.4 SP F5 DIST. 244.5 PC (797.56 L.Y.)

STF 1645: Wide, bright yellowish-white pair, ~1 delta mag
12H 28M 04.45S +44° 47' 39.5" P.A. 157 SEP 9.8 MAG 7.49,8.08 SP F9V DIST. 43.61 PC (142.26 L.Y.)

Gamma CVn: Nice bright orange

STT 257: Wide white and dull blue-white pair.  

12H 56M 44.77S +45° 36' 45.1" P.A. 352 SEP 12.6 MAG 8.53,9.56 SP F2VP DIST. -2702.7 PC (-8816.21 L.Y.)

BU 925: Bright white and extremely faint B, wide separation.  B flashes with averted vision to see, can hold with direct vision with seeing

12H 56M 38.81S +43° 33' 07.2" P.A. 211 SEP 7.4 MAG 6.98,11.1 SP A3IV DIST. 302.11 PC (985.48 L.Y.)

@ 553x:

BU 930: Thought I saw some mis-shape to the airy disk, but not certain.  -- very faint and close B not seen.

13H 05M 52.28S +45° 16' 06.6" P.A. 123 SEP 2.5 MAG 5.6,10 SP K0III DIST. 132.63 PC (432.64 L.Y.)

@ 277x, seeing started a little mediocre at the start of the next night:

STT 269: Wide but pretty faint pair, 2 delta mag. [AB,C seen, 6.81/9.18 123.4".  AB 0.3" and not seen.  There's also an AB,D pair, impossibly far 351.6" split]
13H 32M 51.02S +34° 54' 25.8" P.A. 332 SEP 123.4 MAG 6.81,9.18 SP A6III DIST. 147.93 PC (482.55 L.Y.)

STF 1768: Very pretty pale yellow and orange, 2-3 delta mag, ~2" [AB seen.  6 stars total in the system, most very widely separated.]

13H 37M 27.70S +36° 17' 41.4" P.A. 94.8 SEP 1.69 MAG 4.98,6.95 SP A7IV DIST. 60.9 PC (198.66 L.Y.)

STF 1755: Pretty orange and blue, 5-6", 2 delta mag. Nice.
13H 32M 21.99S +36° 49' 05.6" P.A. 130 SEP 4.2 MAG 7.34,8.1 SP G5III DIST. 206.61 PC (673.96 L.Y.)

HJ 1234: AB: B a faint blue orb, looks like a planet reflecting A's light.  Yellow A.  Nice!  [There's an Aa,Ab, 1.4" 5.89/11.55 discovered in 2008 and only observed twice -- would be great to see that]
13H 34M 21.87S +38° 47' 21.3" P.A. 9 SEP 28.6 MAG 6.4,10.51 SP F0IV DIST. 69.83 PC (227.79 L.Y.)

S 654: Striking yellow-orange and blue-green fainter B. [There's an AC 999.9" away...]

13H 46M 59.77S +38° 32' 33.7" P.A. 239 SEP 71.8 MAG 5.62,8.91 SP K0III+F8V DIST. 97.18 PC (317 L.Y.)

R CVn: tight round orange star...

HJ 1244: AB: Wow!! Very faint B but can hold it direct vision with the seeing.  Well separated from and orange-yellow A. Nice!! I needed to check the list at first to find out what I was looking for since I didn't see anything at first -- listed as a faint pair and went looking for it, found it.
13H 53M 20.79S +42° 11' 05.3" P.A. 132 SEP 6.8 MAG 6.87,10.81 SP A2IV DIST. 238.66 PC (778.51 L.Y.)

STF 1789: Pretty equal magnitude white, well separated.
13H 54M 05.19S +32° 49' 35.2" P.A. 328 SEP 6.6 MAG 8.63,8.97 SP F8 DIST. 71.43 PC (233 L.Y.)