magic moments

Out in the back yard with big blue last night, splitting doubles in Bootes (since that's what I had finder charts for), and the seeing started out at 8/10 but got even better.  There were a few pairs which really stood out, and made the experience very satisfying.

HO 389.  HIP 72725, Multiple Star System, 14h52m55.2s,+20°13'29", Boo ,7.0,73°, 8mm X2.0, 552x 

Definite split of much fainter pair, ~1.5", somewhat lost in diffraction, but there! 

14H 52M 07.44S +20° 17' 26.5" P.A. 88 SEP 1.6 MAG 6.96,10.49 SP A0 DIST. 109.17 PC (356.11 L.Y.)"

EI 28, STF 1938.  HD 137392,Multiple Star System, 15h25m09.1s,+37°19'24",Boo,6.5,86°, 8mm X2.0, 552x 

Striking.  Bright star with near equal double paired with it.   [STF 1938 is the close pair, Ba,Bb, 7.09/7.63, 2.2", PA 4*.  EI 28 is the 4.33 bright A star, gravitationally bound with STF 1938.  A is itself a spectroscopic binary.]  

15H 24M 30.89S +37° 20' 52.5" P.A. 3.6 SEP 2.25 MAG 7.09,7.63 SP G0V DIST. 36.06 PC (117.63 L.Y.)

STF 1921.  HD 135076,Multiple Star System, 15h12m37.2s,+38°36'47",Boo,8.7,88°, 8mm X2.0, 552x 

Very wide white pair, 1 delta mag, easy!  

15H 12M 00.00S +38° 40' 12.4" P.A. 282 SEP 31 MAG 8.56,8.74 SP A2 DIST. 141.64 PC (462.03 L.Y.)

STF 1916.  HIP 74211,Multiple Star System, 15h10m33.3s,+38°55'08",Boo,10.3,88°, 8mm X2.0, 552x 

Yellow and reddish B, 1.5 delta mag, 8-10"  

15H 09M 54.15S +38° 58' 33.0" P.A. 331 SEP 9.8 MAG 8.40,10.60 SP F7V DIST. 58.79 PC (191.77 L.Y.) 

STF 1895 HD 132357,Multiple Star System, 14h58m08.3s,+40°06'04",Boo,8.9,88°, 8mm X2.0, 552x 

Faint 1 delta mag pair, wide separation.  

14H 57M 27.87S +40° 09' 42.2" P.A. 41 SEP 12.6 MAG 8.27,8.88 SP A9IV DIST. 125.63 PC (409.81 L.Y.)

STT 298.   HD 139323,Multiple Star System, 15h36m34.0s,+39°46'50",Boo,7.7,84°, 8mm X2.0, 552x  Wow!  Almost didn't look at this one since it was split in the 80mm finder.  One component is a close equal pair, ~2".    [Very complicated 6 star system.  Saw AB]  

15H 36M 02.22S +39° 48' 08.9" P.A. 186 SEP 1.21 MAG 7.16,8.44 SP K2V DIST. 22.31 PC (72.78 L.Y.)

STT 301 HIP 77236,Multiple Star System, 15h46m49.9s,+42°25'21",Boo,10.3,82°, 8mm X2.0, 552x 

!!! Wow.  Relatively bright A, orange, with a very faint B which shimmers and sparkles to view with averted vision and held with direct.  Seeing is perfect.  B star is small, 4-5 delta mag, 6-8"  Amazing.  Not a record breaker for separation or delta mag, but such a beautiful presentation was very satisfying.  Dwelled on this one for a while.   

15H 26M 26.56S +44° 00' 13.2" P.A. 276 SEP 2.2 MAG 7.83,9.09 SP G5 DIST. 87.95 PC (286.89 L.Y.)

STF 1843  SAO 45047,Multiple Star System, 14h25m25.5s,+47°46'15",Boo,9.7,76°, 8mm X2.0, 552x  Pretty wide, 3 delta mag.   [4 star system, AB seen]  

14H 24M 38.91S +47° 49' 50.0" P.A. 186 SEP 19.9 MAG 7.68,9.23 SP F4V DIST. 92.08 PC (300.36 L.Y.)

STF 1890.   HIP 72524, Multiple Star System, 14h50m16.8s,+48°39'24",Boo,6.6,78°, 8mm X2.0, 552x  Bright white pair, 6" [over-estimated the separation]  

14H 49M 41.37S +48° 43' 15.6" P.A. 47 SEP 2.7 MAG 6.31,6.67 SP F6V+F5V DIST. 68.59 PC (223.74 L.Y.)

23 Boo  Theta Boo, Multiple Star System, 14h25m46.9s,+51°46'38",Boo,4.1,74°, 8mm X2.0, 552x   Very bright A with very faint B, wide.  47.4 LY away, just a little younger than myself.  

14H 25M 11.79S +51° 51' 02.7" P.A. 182 SEP 69.6 MAG 4.10,11.46 SP F7V DIST. 14.53 PC (47.4 L.Y.) 

STF 1829  HIP 69663,Multiple Star System, 14h16m05.5s,+50°21'52",Boo,8.6,74°, 8mm X2.0, 552x   Near equal white wide.  

14H 15M 27.95S +50° 26' 24.6" P.A. 151 SEP 5.5 MAG 8.10,8.63 SP F5 DIST. 160.51 PC (523.58 L.Y.)

STT 291 PPM 54471, Multiple Star System, 15h01m15.7s,+47°12'24",Boo,9.6,80°, 8mm X2.0, 552x  Pretty wide, 2 delta mag, white. 

15H 00M 38.72S +47° 16' 38.8" P.A. 170 SEP 35.9 MAG 6.33,9.62 SP B9PSISRCR DIST. 169.78 PC (553.82 L.Y.) 

ES 2648, Multiple Star System, 15h13m16.7s,+48°31'48",Boo,11.1,79°, 8mm X2.0, 552x  ES 2648.  Orange with very faint bluish star, and one more 90 degrees to this pair.  AC 3-4 delta mag. [AC seen, 7.28/10.80, 0.7", 310*.  AB likely the faint pair, but only a 40* difference in PA.  

15H 12M 43.76S +48° 34' 50.4" P.A. 310 SEP 0.7 MAG 7.28,10.80 SP K0 DIST. 154.32 PC (503.39 L.Y.)

STF 1909 I  Boo, Multiple Star System, 15h04m21.7s,+47°35'36",Boo,5.8,80°, 8mm X2.0, 552x 

Figure 8 to hair split.   0.9".  This pair shrinking separation fast, will be <0.5" in a couple of years.  Only 40 LY away  

15H 03M 47.30S +47° 39' 14.6" P.A. 73.9 SEP 0.69 MAG 5.20,6.10 SP F7V+K4V DIST. 12.51 PC (40.81 L.Y.)    

STT 287, Multiple Star System, 14h52m05.1s,+44°51'50",Boo,8.6,83°, 8mm X2.0, 552x  STT 287.  Wow!  Hair-split, ~0.7", near equal or half a delta mag.   

14H 51M 27.53S +44° 55' 42.6" P.A. 2 SEP 0.69 MAG 8.40,8.62 SP G0 DIST. 59.14 PC (192.91 L.Y.)

STT 296 Multiple Star System, 15h26m57.4s,+43°57'53",Boo,13.1,82. 8mm X2.0, 552x 

Very beautiful, 2", 2 delta mag, with very faint third seen with AV widely separated.   [AB seen, 2.2" 1.26 delta mag.  AC 12.67 seen.  AD not seen, 14th mag.]  

15H 26M 26.56S +44° 00' 13.2" P.A. 276 SEP 2.2 MAG 7.83,9.09 SP G5 DIST. 87.95 PC (286.89 L.Y.

STT 296, Multiple Star System, 15h26m57.4s,+43°57'53",Boo,13.1,83°, 8mm X2.0, 552x 

Close near equal, 1 delta mag, white.   [4 stars in system, AB seen, 2.2"]  

15H 26M 26.56S +44° 00' 13.2" P.A. 276 SEP 2.2 MAG 7.83,9.09 SP G5 DIST. 87.95 PC (286.89 L.Y.)

saturn

Last night's seeing was pretty good.  But with a late start and having to realign all my finders (and reattach my Telrad since it got knocked off), all I did was look at Saturn for about 45 minutes.  I was able to get to 553x, and views were steady.  Cassini Division and a hint of the Keeler gap.  Even the Crepe ring made a showing.  The planet itself showed its rugby colors, and five moons visible.  A nice little session.

Good seeing is predicted for the rest of the week so I hope to get more time in, and to see if the outward blowing fan helps at all.

data dump

These are the observations from four nights of observing from home between 7/16-21 with the 12.5-inch.  A bit of a data dump.  Generally seeing was average to begin with at 9pm, and didn't settle out until after 10pm, but I didn't have much time since I always needed to turn in by 11pm.  I made an outward blowing rear fan, to see if this helps the thermal plumes from the mirror (as opposed to the sideways blowing boundary layer fan I had been using).  I could not really tell a difference yet, given the seeing.

Saturn, 17h27m01.9s,-21°55'28",Oph,0.2,26°,S: 6/10; T: 3/5., 8mm, 276x   Best at 277x.  I can see four moons, but also stars in the field.  Titan, Tethys, Dione, Rhea.  Cassini division easy; dull tri-colored globe.  In the finderscope, above Saturn, there are two orange carbon stars, and maybe two more beyond."

HIP 69140, Multiple Star System, 14h10m03.1s,+07°18'27",Vir,10.0,56°,S: 6/10; T: 3/5.,8mm X2.0, 552x  STT 275.  Orange star with very faint B, 3-4 delta mag, wide ~10".  Nice!  14H 09M 11.21S +07° 23' 05.8" P.A. 354 SEP 5 MAG 7.3,10.09 SP G9III DIST. 180.51 PC (588.82 L.Y.)"

HR 5385, Multiple Star System, 14h24m14.1s,+08°22'11",Boo,6.7,58°,S: 6/10; T: 3/5.,8mm, 276x.  STF 1835.  In a line of three stars, white and slightly red B.  Wide, ~6", 2 delta mag.   [A,BC seen.  BC is near equal 0.3" and would make a good challenge for the 20-inch!] 14H 23M 22.74S +08° 26' 47.9" P.A. 195 SEP 6 MAG 5.03,6.78 SP A0V+F2V DIST. 65.92 PC (215.03 L.Y.)"

HIP 72221,Multiple Star System, 14h47m06.9s,+09°34'36",Boo,7.4,61°,S: 6/10; T: 3/5.,8mm X2.0, 552x  STF 1879.  Fairly close yellow and orange-yellow, ~1 delta mag, ~3"  [AB seen.  AB,C and AB,D too far separations]  14H 46M 15.58S +09° 38' 48.2" P.A. 82.7 SEP 1.72 MAG 7.79,8.45 SP G2V DIST. 43.22 PC (140.98 L.Y.)"

HIP 71946,Multiple Star System, 14h43m46.4s,+08°00'19",Boo,9.9,59°,S: 6/10; T: 3/5.,8mm X2.0, 552x  STF 1870.  Yellow and fairly faint blue B, ~5-6", 3 delta mag. 14H 42M 55.10S +08° 04' 34.3" P.A. 231 SEP 4.8 MAG 7.46,9.98 SP F2 DIST. 198.02 PC (645.94 L.Y.)"

HIP 72634,Multiple Star System, 14h51m52.8s,+09°39'18",Boo,9.6,61°,S: 6/10; T: 3/5.,8mm X2.0, 552x  STF 1886.  Yellow-orange and orange, pretty wide ~10" 2 delta mag [Four stars visible, the others a little too faint] 14H 51M 02.31S +09° 43' 25.2" P.A. 225 SEP 7.4 MAG 7.61,9.73 SP K0 DIST. 29.44 PC (96.03 L.Y.)"

HIP 69062,Multiple Star System, 14h08m56.8s,+36°40'23",Boo,10.6,73°,S: 6/10; T: 3/5.,8mm X2.0, 552x  STT 276.  Seeing not really good enough to see elongation or rod in the orangish A -- but once I read it is a 0.5" pair, I look for it and think I see it.  AB,C also seen, 1 delta mag, ~5" 14H 08M 11.84S +36° 44' 56.6" P.A. 207 SEP 0.4 MAG 8.93,9.43 SP G4III DIST. 201.21 PC (656.35 L.Y.)"

HD 129260,Multiple Star System, 14h41m28.6s,+31°13'15",Boo,7.8,77°,S: 6/10; T: 3/5.,8mm X2.0, 552x  STF 1867.  0.5 delta mag, hair to figure 8 split, white.   [0.7", not bad considering the seeing] 14H 40M 44.21S +31° 17' 23.5" P.A. 353 SEP 0.65 MAG 8.36,8.83 SP F5 DIST. 116.96 PC (381.52 L.Y.)"

HIP 71193,Multiple Star System, 14h34m19.4s,+35°30'59",Boo,8.7,78°,S: 6/10; T: 3/5.,8mm X2.0, 552x  STF 1858.  Near equal orange 3-4", 13th magnitude a wide pair?  See with averted vision, comes and goes with seeing, PA at a right angle to AB.  [AB seen, and the 3rd is AC.  AD not seen.] 14H 33M 36.45S +35° 35' 08.0" P.A. 37.9 SEP 3.03 MAG 8.13,8.98 SP G5 DIST. 36.79 PC (120.01 L.Y.)  "

STF1883B,Multiple Star System, 14h49m45.4s,+05°53'08",Vir,8.9,57°,S: 6/10; T: 3/5.,8mm X2.0, 552x  STF 1883.  Strongly suspect a split / elongation in 80mm finder.  It is a tight 2 delta mag orangish-white pair, 1" [amazing to notice the elongation in the finder!]  14H 48M 53.22S +05° 57' 15.9" P.A. 277.2 SEP 1.02 MAG 7.02,8.95 SP F6V DIST. 55.59 PC (181.33 L.Y.)"

HIP 72846, Multiple Star System, 14h54m12.6s,+15°38'19",Boo,6.5,56°,S: 6-7/10; T: 3/5. , 8mm X2.0, 552x  STT 288: Notched / figure 8 with 8mm, split with barlow.  Clean split despite seeing not very good, 6/10. 14H 53M 23.35S +15° 42' 18.3" P.A. 157.5 SEP 0.99 MAG 6.89,7.55 SP F9V DIST. 47.64 PC (155.4 L.Y.)"

Xi Boo, Multiple Star System, 14h52m11.8s,+19°02'01",Boo,4.6,58°,S: 6-7/10; T: 3/5. ,8mm, 276x  STF 1888: Pretty yellow & orange pair, 2 delta mag, ~8".  [AB seen; 6 stars visible in system]  14H 51M 23.38S +19° 06' 01.7" P.A. 300.5 SEP 5.47 MAG 4.76,6.95 SP G8V+K5V DIST. 6.71 PC (21.89 L.Y.)"

SAO 101438,Multiple Star System, 15h13m30.8s,+19°14'01",Ser,7.7,61°,S: 6-7/10; T: 3/5. ,8mm X2.0, 552x  STF 1919: Very wide yellow and orange-yellow.  In an arc of three stars, with nice orange carbon star at the other end.   15H 12M 43.48S +19° 17' 09.8" P.A. 11 SEP 23.2 MAG 6.71,7.38 SP G1V+G5V DIST. 27.24 PC (88.86 L.Y.)"

HR 5640, Multiple Star System, 15h09m21.4s,+25°02'52",Boo,5.8,64°,S: 6-7/10; T: 3/5. ,8mm X2.0, 552x  HJ 2766.  Orange-yellow A with very wide, very faint B, ~ 4 delta mag.    15H 08M 35.56S +25° 06' 31.1" P.A. 331 SEP 57.6 MAG 5.8,12.2 SP K1III DIST. 143.06 PC (466.66 L.Y.)"

HIP 74893,Multiple Star System, 15h19m05.2s,+26°46'59",CrB,6.7,66°,S: 6-7/10; T: 3/5. ,8mm X2.0, 552x  STF 1932.  Near equal yellow-white, very close but clean split, ~1.5".  Nice! [AB seen] 15H 18M 20.19S +26° 50' 24.7" P.A. 266 SEP 1.62 MAG 7.32,7.41 SP F6V+F6V DIST. 35.98 PC (117.37 L.Y.)  "

SAO 64575,Multiple Star System, 15h14m52.7s,+31°41'55",Boo,9.2,66°,S: 6-7/10; T: 3/5. ,8mm X2.0, 552x  STT 292.  Is it triple?  Orange star with two possible wide pairs.    [double only, just pick one of the stars and that's B!] 15H 14M 06.04S +31° 47' 16.2" P.A. 158 SEP 118.2 MAG 6.16,9.36 SP K5 DIST. 203.25 PC (663 L.Y.)"

SAO 64591,Multiple Star System, 15h16m20.8s,+33°15'44",Boo,7.8,65°,S: 6-7/10; T: 3/5. ,8mm X2.0, 552x   STFA 27: Split in 80mm finder.  Very wide pair, very bright A, 3 delta mag B.  Orange-yellow and blue-white B [There is an AC pair 14th mag very wide] 15H 15M 30.16S +33° 18' 53.4" P.A. 78 SEP 106.3 MAG 3.56,7.89 SP G8IIICN-1 DIST. 37.34 PC (121.8 L.Y.)"

Mu 2 Boo, Multiple Star System, 15h25m10.8s,+37°17'34",Boo,6.9,68°,S: 6-7/10; T: 3/5. ,8mm X2.0, 552x  STFA 28.  Orange star with very wide, much fainter B, 3 delta mag. [I need to revisit, as STF 1938 is the Ba,Bb pair with near equal 2.2"] 15H 24M 30.89S +37° 20' 52.5" P.A. 3.6 SEP 2.25 MAG 7.09,7.63 SP G0V DIST. 36.06 PC (117.63 L.Y.)"

S  Boo,Variable Star, 14h23m27.7s,+53°44'17",Boo,10.8,58°,S: 6-7/10; T: 3/5. ,8mm X2.0, 552x  S Boo.  Rich orange color, ~8th mag. [actually 9.8, it's variable]"

ENG  52B, Multiple Star System, 15h08m09.1s,+24°49'45",Boo,13.5,63°,S: 6-7/10; T: 3/5. ,8mm X2.0, 552x  ENG 52: Bright white-yellow A, very faint 4-5 delta mag B, bluish, very wide separation.   [AB seen.  There's a AC wide sep. and a BC, also a wide sep -- very awkward movements, it must all pull and push against each other] 15H 07M 18.06S +24° 52' 09.1" P.A. 40 SEP 103.5 MAG 4.97,11.53 SP F5V DIST. 19.55 PC (63.77 L.Y.)"

HJ 2777B,Multiple Star System, 15h23m09.7s,+25°34'44",CrB,13.6,66°,S: 6-7/10; T: 3/5. ,8mm X2.0, 552x   HJ 2777 = UV CrB: Light orange with very faint blue B, very wide 3 delta mag. [Not a physical pair] 15H 22M 25.32S +25° 37' 27.0" P.A. 342 SEP 42.5 MAG 7.39,12.11 SP K1III DIST. 467.29 PC (1524.3 L.Y.) "

STF1937C, Multiple Star System, 15h23m55.5s,+30°15'08",CrB,12.6,68°,S: 6-7/10; T: 3/5. ,8mm X2.0, 552x  STF 1937.  Overlapping / notched orange-yellow stars.  Used apodising mask.   [Not bad!  AB seen, first 0.5" pair from home!  There are total 6 stars in the system.] 15H 23M 12.23S +30° 17' 17.7" P.A. 224.6 SEP 0.53 MAG 5.64,5.95 SP F8V+G0V DIST. 17.86 PC (58.26 L.Y.)"

Saturn, 17h26m19.2s,-21°55'22",Oph,0.2,30°,S: 6/10; T: 3/5,8mm, 276x  Looking very nice.   Spotted Tethys above Saturn in the view.  Moons Titian, Rhea, Enceladus, and Dione were in a nearly straight diagonal line running from the far left to below the planet in the view.  Seeing not very good, but could make out Enke Division and colored bands from time to time."

PPM 131591,Multiple Star System, 15h40m59.3s,+12°00'03",Ser,10.0,63°,S: 6/10; T: 3/5,8mm X2.0, 552x  STT 300.  Orange-yellow with wide separation bluish B, 3 delta mag.    [15H 40M 10.35S +12° 03' 10.6" P.A. 261 SEP 15 MAG 6.32,10.07 SP G7.5IIIA DIST. 286.53 PC (934.66 L.Y.)]"

HD 142910,Multiple Star System, 15h57m35.1s,+12°25'57",Ser,7.7,64°,S: 6/10; T: 3/5,8mm X2.0, 552x  STF 1988.  Near equal yellow-white pair, ~2".  15H 56M 45.53S +12° 28' 40.6" P.A. 249 SEP 1.9 MAG 7.59,7.84 SP F1V DIST. 96.25 PC (313.97 L.Y.)"

HIP 78446,Multiple Star System, 16h01m43.5s,+13°13'38",Ser,7.2,65°,S: 6/10; T: 3/5,8mm X2.0, 552x  STT 303.  Near equal white, ~1.5".  Nice!  16H 00M 54.16S +13° 16' 18.2" P.A. 173.9 SEP 1.6 MAG 7.69,8.06 SP F7V DIST. 97.28 PC (317.33 L.Y.)"

BD +13 03066,Multiple Star System, 16h06m59.8s,+13°14'45",Ser,10.8,65°,S: 6/10; T: 3/5,8mm X2.0, 552x  STF 2007.  Split in finder.  Two yellow stars, 2 delta mag, wide. [AB seen; AC has very wide separation] 16H 06M 02.82S +13° 19' 15.5" P.A. 324 SEP 39 MAG 6.89,7.98 SP G8III DIST. 222.72 PC (726.51 L.Y.)"

HD 145958,Multiple Star System, 16h14m07.8s,+13°29'12",Her,6.7,66°,S: 6/10; T: 3/5,8mm X2.0, 552x  STF 2021.  Equal yellow-white stars, ~4".   AB seen.  AC very wide separation. 16H 13M 18.45S +13° 31' 37.2" P.A. 357.1 SEP 4.06 MAG 7.43,7.48 SP G9V DIST. 23.58 PC (76.92 L.Y.)"

Gamma CrB, Multiple Star System, 15h43m28.9s,+26°14'47",CrB,3.8,77°,S: 6/10; T: 3/5,8mm, 276x  STF 1967.  Tried but failed to split, seeing too poor in the beginning of the night.  [Though, seeing the separation is only 0.36", I suppose I should not have been disappointed!  Discovered at 0.7", near maximum elongation -- period of 91 years so it's pretty fast.]  15H 42M 44.57S +26° 17' 44.3" P.A. 108.1 SEP 0.36 MAG 4.04,5.6 SP B9V+A3V DIST. 44.78 PC (146.07 L.Y.)  "

STT 302B,Multiple Star System, 15h55m39.1s,+34°19'23",CrB,10.1,84°,S: 6/10; T: 3/5,8mm X2.0, 552x   STT 302.  Nice orange but maybe elongated a little?  [Not seen; this is a wide separation] 15H 54M 56.85S +34° 21' 45.0" P.A. 51 SEP 28.8 MAG 7.16,10.42 SP A3V DIST. 183.82 PC (599.62 L.Y.) "

PPM 78977,Multiple Star System, 16h01m51.5s,+33°17'07",CrB,10.4,85°,S: 6/10; T: 3/5,8mm X2.0, 552x  S 676  Tried but failed to split.  Suspected elongation. [This one fooled me; it's a very wide separation] 16H 01M 02.65S +33° 18' 12.6" P.A. 47 SEP 141.7 MAG 5.47,10.51 SP G2V DIST. 17.24 PC (56.24 L.Y.)  "

STF1970C,Multiple Star System, 15h46m52.9s,+15°19'29",Ser,13.4,67°,S: 6/10; T: 3/5,8mm, 276x  STF 1970.  Very wide separation, white A and bluish B.  B looks like a planet reflecting light.  3 delta mag.    [Delta mag is actually 6!] 15H 46M 11.21S +15° 25' 18.9" P.A. 264 SEP 30 MAG 3.66,9.96 SP A2IV DIST. 47.55 PC (155.11 L.Y.)"

STF2431B,Multiple Star System, 18h59m21.2s,+40°42'17",Lyr,9.6,59°,S: 7/10; T: 3.5,8mm, 276x   V543 Lyr = STF 2431  Easy wide yellow-white & bluish pair.   [18H 58M 46.59S +40° 40' 45.1" P.A. 236 SEP 19 MAG 6.17,9.61 SP B3V DIST. 300.3 PC (979.58 L.Y.)]  Short night because the neighbors were having a party; I planned to go to Pinnacles next night anyway and need to turn in early for the sleep

Pinnacles

I have a lot of home double star observing done over the last couple of weeks which I have yet to write down, mainly due to a busy work schedule and spending the nights observing.  But I recently bought Sky Tools and I'm giving it a try to enter my logs.  I decided to start out with last night's visit to the Pinnacles.  So far so good, but I find it changes the designation from my search term, so I have to manually look it up to change, and the export format is difficult.  And, I have to write up some brief summary such as here to capture the context of the observations

The Santa Cruz Astronomy Club arranged a dark sky night and invited anyone to join along.  Since Willow Springs is still out of commission I came down.  Transparency was average to poor, especially toward the end of the night, when SQML dipped to 19.35.  It never got above 21.00.  It was not truly dark until 10pm, and there was a lot of milling about of the people there.  I didn't have a focussed observing plan, and in fact I struggled to find things on the chart, which was pretty frustrating.  But I did get to meet Rich N., and see Mark W. and Jamie D. again.  The SCAC guys are all really nice.  It was a fun night.

I did have a couple of targets in mind, specifically Sh 2-72 which Steve posted about on TAC two years ago, and a newly discovered lensing quasar in Andromeda.  Aside from all the telescopic viewing, I did "relax" a little with the little Vixen binoculars, taking in the dark nebulae.  I ended around 2:30am and slept from 3-6am, when it was time to go.

STF2316     Mltiple Star System  18h28m07.1s +00°12'40"  Ser   5.3   -18°  S: 6/10 T: 3/5  Tele Vue Ethos 13mm, 205x  Close but easily split, ~2", 2 delta mag, both yellow white.  [P.A. 320 SEP 3.7 MAG 5.38,7.62]

AC 1       Multiple Star System      00h21m49.8s     +33°04'20"           And        7.9          46°          S: 6/10 T: 3/5 Tele Vue Ethos 13mm, 205x  Not split -- a surprise!  Orange star, slightly out of round. [P.A. 288.8 SEP 1.84 MAG 7.27,8.26]

ES 4 = HIP 7067  Multiple Star System      01h32m08.1s     +43°42'21"           And        9.1          62°          S: 6/10 T: 3/5      Tele Vue Ethos 8mm, 333x  Split with 333x, ~1.5" 2 delta mag.  [P.A. 101 SEP 2.8 MAG 8.13,9.12]

STF 2609     Multiple Star System   19h59m13.9s   +38°09'25"   Cyg 6.3   22°   S: 6/10 T: 3/5      Tele Vue Ethos 8mm, 333x  Re-observation.  Seeing not as good as last time, but it is cleanly split without any rods.  I saw rods in my 2.1x42 Vixens due to out of focus left eye -- so I wonder if that's what happened -- though other stars not rod-shaped...

AC   11   Multiple Star System      18h25m52.5s     -01°33'55"            Ser         7.2          -19°        S: 6/10 T: 3/5      Tele Vue Ethos 13mm, 205x  Did not see; I thought it was either a wide pair or a PN.

UGC 1068 = MCG 8-3-27                Galaxy  01h30m50.2s     +45°41'01"           And        13.9        61°          S: 6/10 T: 3/5      Tele Vue Ethos 8mm, 333x  Fairly faint, pretty large 3"1 N-S.  Brighter core with averted vision.  Diffuse halo edges.

NGC 620               Galaxy  01h38m02.7s     +42°24'25"           And        14.1        63°          S: 6/10 T: 3/5      Tele Vue Ethos 13mm, 205x  Moderately small, very diffuse, moderately bright.  Seen direct vision, brighter with averted.  Bean shaped.  No core, diffuse edge.

PC 19 = PN G032.1+07.0                Planetary Nebula             18h25m38.2s     +02°30'19"           Ser         12.2        -17°        S: 6/10 T: 3/5         Tele Vue Ethos 13mm, 205x  Not found.  Suspected a couple slow blinking stars but not certain. (too large and bright to be stellar)

M 2-44  Planetary Nebula             18h38m32.9s     -03°04'47"            Ser         15.0        -18°        S: 6/10 T: 3/5      Tele Vue Ethos 13mm, 205x  Small disk, pretty faint, blinks with OIII -- seen with filter only.  Did not see ring structure.  I used the SA100 grating and saw a lot of streaks in the field, and a tentative dot without spectra -- but I'm not certain it was the object, seemed to be offset from original position.

K 4-5      Planetary Nebula             18h46m33.9s     -06°17'19"            Sct          15.7        -18°        S 6/10; T 3/5       Tele Vue Ethos 13mm, 205x Needed averted vision to see, then could hold with direct vision.  OIII only, in a rich field.  No central star seen with filter, but suspect it without the filter -- but without the nebulosity.  The shell is very faint, diffuse, generally round, with a thicker / brighter "C" on the west half.  The east half looks bitten off.

K 3-75    Planetary Nebula             20h16m01.1s     +40°38'08"           Cyg         17.1        26°          S: 6/10 T: 3/5      Tele Vue Ethos 8mm, 333x  Using OIII I see two possible objects:  One is the fourth star in an arc going SW to E, it is brighter and blinks.  It might also be a very faint, averted vision object which blinks in and out of view, to the SE of this last star.  Since the magnitude of this object is 17.1 it may be the latter.

Sh 2-68 = PN G030.6+06.2             Planetary Nebula             18h25m52.8s     +00°52'27"           Ser         13.1        -18°        S: 6/10 T: 3/5         Tele Vue Ethos 13mm, 205x  Suspected a small round greyscale change to the background darkness using OIII and averted vision -- but very tentative and I'm not confident to claim it.

K 4-51    Planetary Nebula             20h13m04.3s     +40°48'40"           Cyg         15.6        26°          S: 6/10 T: 3/5      Tele Vue Ethos 8mm, 333x  Very small, stellar, faint, blinks with OIII.  No question.

NGC 6749            Globular Cluster               19h06m09.0s     +01°55'56"           Aql         12.4        -9°          S: 6/10 T: 3/5      Tele Vue Ethos 13mm, 205x  Fairly large but very faint irregularly round glow, with slightly more concentration in the middle, just distinguished from rest of field

SH 2-71 = PN G035.9-01.1             Planetary Nebula             19h02m54.2s     +02°10'57"           Aql         12.2        -9°          S: 6/10 T: 3/5         Tele Vue Ethos 13mm, 205x   w/ OIII, pretty large 3:2 N-S, fairly bright, with ragged edges; presumed central star noticed with averted vision then held direct.

Sh 2-72 Diffuse Nebula  19h04m41.8s     +02°20'48"           Aql                        -9°          S: 6/10 T: 3/5      Tele Vue Nagler Type 4 22mm, 121x & Tele Vue Nagler Type 5 31mm, 86x  Using HBeta filter at 101x 3.1 exit pupil, I could discern very faint mottling in the field and scanning about the adjacent areas, with a line of distinct crenellations along the eastern edge of the glow -- the edges of the nebula set off against the darker sky background.  Averted needed to brighten the view but it could be seen direct vision.  At 87x 4.4 ep, the mottling was maintained within the larger 1° field.  UHC had a similar but somewhat weaker effect.  Surprisingly not too difficult, considering transparency and seeing were about average.  Thanks to Mark Wagner for the confirming view; he called it "subtle"

GN 18.32.5, GN 18.32.5 = PNG 27.0 +1.5, 18 35 11.6 -04 29 06.  Simbad calls it a reflection nebula but it is plotted as a PN.  Using 333x, the nebula sprouts to the SW of a relatively bright star, but is only seen with averted vision and OIII.  It is a diffuse, extremely faint small cloud which brightens near the star and fades to a round diffuse edge.  Searching the internet, I find one other observation from a German observer using a 27-inch; his sketch shows the object much brighter than what I saw.  

Sherwood 1, PN,  = Sherwood 1, PN, = Sd 1 = K 3-77.  Plotted in Interstellarum at the edge of LDN 889, which is is part of the Gamma Cygni nebula complex.  I had to star hop from Gamma around this blank space in the sky to get to Sherwood 1, as it was labeled.  At 333x and only with OIII, a small, very excessively faint round shell with diffuse edges swan into view, held 50% with averted vision.  Very low surface brightness and no central star.  Very close star just to the SSE.  After getting home and searching for the object online, I found the discovery paper by William A. Sherwood who, as a graduate student in 1969, was blinking photographic plates at the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh.  I precessed the 1950 discovery coordinates and searched the result in Aladin, which confirmed the observation for me as my sketch matched the star field.  Distance: 18000 ly.  17.2 mag, 7.0” size.  Today I received Kent Wallace’s excellent Visual Observations of Planetary Nebulae book, and I find his observation in a similarly sized telescope revealed a faint stellar object, though I was 100x higher in magnification.  I observed this during the “peak” seeing and transparency period during our time at Pinnacles, so I believe that helped.

J014709+463037 = Andromeda's Parachute  This object was noted on Deep Sky Forum earlier in the week, a gravitationally lensed quasar with an incredible red shift z=2.377. I printed some AAVSO charts and gave it a try. But, now it was 2am and the good seeing window had closed, and the sky began to haze. I spent almost a half hour in the field searching. Unfortunately my charts were confusing, and I could not very well match the star fields with the eyepiece view, though I was very certain my star hop was correct. In any case, there are better charts available at DSF, so I hope to try again at CalStar.

bootes doubles

Last night started out with average seeing but it steadily improved during the session.  With not much happening on Jupiter, and the moon behind the median tree, I aimed the 12.5-inch to Arcturus and started in on some doubles.  Starting at 277x and going to 553x for the tighter ones; but with mixed results.

STF 1888: Pretty. Yellow and orange pair, ~6", 3 delta mag.  This is actually a sextuple system
14H 51M 23.38S +19° 06' 01.7" P.A. 301.7 SEP 5.56 MAG 4.76,6.95 SP G8V+K5V DIST. 6.71 PC (21.89 L.Y.)

Anonymous to north of STF 1888: very faint, very wide blue B to orange A star, 3-4 delta mag.

STT 288: 553x: Seen as a messy elongation to the A star at 277x; needed 553x to separate, resolved with the seeing.  Near equal yellow-white, ~1" or less.
14H 53M 23.35S +15° 42' 18.3" P.A. 158.1 SEP 1" MAG 6.89,7.55 SP F9V DIST. 47.64 PC (155.4 L.Y.)

STF 1865: very bright A with two very faint blue stars, very wide, as possible pairs. [This is a miss; separation is 0.4", so not seen]
14H 41M 08.92S +13° 43' 42.0" P.A. 289.3 SEP 0.4 MAG 4.46,4.55 SP A0V+A0V DIST. 53.88 PC (175.76 L.Y.)

CHR 41 & ENG 51: Viewed with the SA100 grating, but did not see double rainbow lines, which I had hoped would be possible for close "spectroscopic" pairs.  I read one has to see the spectral lines change as the B star revolves around the A in order to "see" a spectroscopic pair; for that I'd need to do imaging.

STT 279: Very close faint orange-red near equal pair, kissing in unsettled seeing but a definite split when it stills.  [Not seen -- I wonder what I saw?  This is a not too close unequal pair, should have seen it.]
14H 13M 49.46S +11° 59' 51.9" P.A. 257 SEP 2.2 MAG 6.84,9.13 SP K2III DIST. 170.94 PC (557.61 L.Y.)

Kui 66: Unresolved faint haze at 553x, but adding the apodizing mask and turning off my fan I had a glimpse of the B star 15% of the time, very small and faint, ~3" and 4-5 delta mag.  Both orange.  Definitely there.  [On a defocussed star image I noticed the fan causing turbulent waves across the view -- I turned the fan off and it seemed to improve.  It makes me think I should change the fan orientation to draw out of the tube from the bottom rather than blowing across the mirror.]

14H 14M 50.85S +10° 06' 02.2" P.A. 111 SEP 0.8 MAG 5.44,8.43 SP K1III DIST. 81.23 PC (264.97 L.Y.)

STF 1877, Izar: Yellow-orange and blue, very pretty, as always

STF 1884: Orange-white, 3 delta mag, ~5"
14H 48M 23.37S +24° 22' 01.0" P.A. 55 SEP 2.1 MAG 6.58,7.48 SP F8IV-V DIST. 84.67 PC (276.19 L.Y.)

STT 582: Very wide blue to east?  Two possible pairs [I did see the AB; there are three stars in all]
14H 34M 40.81S +29° 44' 42.4" P.A. 85 SEP 215.3 MAG 4.5,10.66 SP F2V DIST. 15.83 PC (51.64 L.Y.)

HJ 2728: Wide blue faint B to bright orange A.  PA to west, 4-5 delta mag.  The B was a smudge at first but resolves to disk with seeing.
14H 31M 49.86S +30° 22' 16.1" P.A. 345 SEP 34.7 MAG 3.58,11.5 SP K3III DIST. 49.09 PC (160.13 L.Y.)

STF 1854: Is it triple?  Bright blue-white A, seems to have a pair in the west part of the diffraction.  Another wide separated star to the south, needed AV to notice it. [The diffraction was likely just scattering as there is no close pair, seems I saw AB but the PA is off.  There is a fainter AC]
14H 29M 49.66S +31° 47' 28.2" P.A. 256 SEP 25.6 MAG 6.05,10.62 SP A0VS DIST. 110.13 PC (359.24 L.Y.)

Anonymous to north of STF 1854: Also a faint B to the brighter A, wide separation

STF 1850: Wide yellow-white, 1 delta mag.
14H 28M 33.29S +28° 17' 25.9" P.A. 261 SEP 25.4 MAG 7.11,7.56 SP A1V+A1V DIST. 349.65 PC (1140.56 L.Y.)

STF 1816: A is rod-shaped equal white.  Very faint blue to west, wide separation.  {Woohoo!  First sub 0.5" separation seen from home -- and beats one I saw at Fremont Peak with the 20-inch!]
14H 13M 54.63S +29° 06' 19.5" P.A. 98.3 SEP 0.39 MAG 7.43,7.75 SP F0+A2 DIST. 113.38 PC (369.85 L.Y.)

Antares: I have long wanted to split this but have never been able to.  Using wratten 38A blue filter, the apodizing mask, 277x, I was able to get Antares to a small dot.  I suspected a brighter arc in the diffraction but this is likely scatter -- the pair is separated enough the B disk should resolve.  But it did not.

jupiter, moon, repeat

The last few nights have been relatively cloudless and with pretty good seeing. But, there was always moisture blowing in from the ocean: a kind of grainy dust which you could actually see blowing past the moon. It caused the moon to have a large halo, and scattered enough light through the sky that I didn’t bother trying for doubles, since many on my list were faint pairings and I didn’t have the right conditions for those. As a result I stuck to the bright objects, Jupiter and the moon.

Jupiter always showed a great amount of detail, especially dark breaking-wave shaped festoons arcing from the NEB into the center band. On the night of 3 July it appeared the festoon was moving very rapidly across the face. This night was special too because there was a Galilean moon transit (Io), where the shadow seemed to precede the moon before it transited. In fact, the shadow near the eastern limb was from a moon which was already far progressed through its transit and was close to the western limb – but not visible. It was a very steep sunlight angle which caused the shadow to lag so far behind. Europa was approaching the limb and was not casting its shadow on it yet. The sequence was:

3:03 I Tr I
4:18 I Sh I
4:42 II Tr I
5:14 I Tr E
6:27 I Sh E
7:12 II Tr E
7:20 II Sh I
9:42 II Sh E

I saw I Sh I, II Tr I, and I Tr E. What’s interesting is Io had a very fast shadow transit, but its egress happened while the shadow was still on the planet. Europa, on the other hand, started and finished its transit before its shadow was even cast on the planet – showing just how steep the sunlight angle was and also that it is farther away from Jupiter than Io.

3 July I also happened to catch a meteor, of all things, shooting between Arcturus and CVn. It was quite a surprise given the moon haze and light scatter.

5 July was the best seeing, with a lot of turbulence all over the planet, including a festoon which forked in two.

For the moon I generally followed the terminator and looked at mountains on the limb. I used the Tele Vue Planetary filter and find while its much brighter than the moon filter (my eye is burned with an afterimage) I feel I see more detail and have better contrast. It struck me that the shadows on the moon are far blacker than what you might find on earth’s terminator – the shadow lines are sharp and there is little or no grayscale change. I assume this is because of a lack of atmosphere which might otherwise scatter light into the shadows and make them appear brighter. The night of the 5th I used 553x and saw a lot of jagged edges, floating mountains, and weird peninsulas along the terminator. Quite remarkable.

a relevation

Last night started out with pretty good seeing, so I stared out with Jupiter at 277x with the Tele Vue Planetary filter.  Views were nice and detailed.  Moving slightly up to the quarter moon, I thought to have a look with the planetary filter -- and it was fantastic!  More detail, brighter but not overbearing, and something of a realistic color.  Even the bright illuminated part of the moon looked good.  I'll keep using and enjoying it.

I tried out the spectroscope/eyepiece I made in the afternoon, where I used some old plastic plumbing pipe and some straws and clamps to hold it on axis over the exit pupil of a 26mm plossl.  I aimed it at Spica but it would not focus -- I have the spectroscope set too high.  But, I did notice there were two spectra streaks -- and Spica is a very close double -- so perhaps I will be able to "see" the very close doubles using this device?

I spent some time on doubles -- seeing was good in the beginning but after about 40 minutes it deteriorated rapidly and became hazy as the marine layer moved in.

STF 1825: White and orange, 3 delta mag, well split.
P.A. 154 SEP 4.4 MAG 6.47,8.42

ENG 51: Very wide faint blue star to the south, 5 delta mag.
P.A. 219 SEP 163.6 MAG 5.44,10.84

Now at 553x:

CHR 41: 0.2: much too close.  I should have tried the spectroscope.  Seeing not very good anyhow

STT 279: Very pretty orange and blue, 2-3", PA SW 2 delta mag
P.A. 257 SEP 2.2 MAG 6.84,9.13

KUI 66: Since it's a close unequal pair (3 delta mag 1") I tried with the apodizing mask, which seemed to help, and I had a few good moments of seeing when I suspected some glimpses -- but nothing more.  It was not the right night.  Looking up I saw the moon had a thick haze around it, and marine layer clouds were moving in from the west.