light observing

Had my first look at Mars this season 10:30pm 8/17, at least with some detail.  With binoviewers, 93x, planetary filter, it was a nice orange-red color (it was mostly yellow without the filter) but with all the dark surface features veiled by atmospheric dust.   The north pole was very visible, but the south pole was more yellowish fringe.  Also yellowish on the eastern horizon where maybe the dust storm rages?  I traced the darker features – Syrtis Major, Iapygia, Hellas as a round light patch, and Sinus Meridiani.

Also had looks at the moon and Saturn, and some sweeping.  Seeing was not particularly good, and there was a lot of mist in the air – I could see the beams from the headlights of commercial jets as they made their approach to the airport – neat to look at when they made their turns.

Sunday night the 18^th the seeing was better but still some transparency problems (though it had been forecast to be fully transparent).  Quarter moon.  I worked some doubles, starting with those around M13 (and made a sketch of their location relative to the great cluster of my finderscope view, complete with “detailed” close up views outside the frame), then moving on to Aquila which was at culmination.

STF 2101: Yellow and a deeper yellow.  There’s an anonymous pair just west of STF 2101, a faint orange pair, looks like a 2+1 system.  [AB seen.  AC & AD super wide and faint.]

16^H 45^M 48.14^S +35° 37' 50.5" P.A. 47 SEP 4.1 MAG 7.51,9.39 SP F6V DIST. 58.82 PC (191.87 L.Y.)

STF 2104: White and yellow
16H 48M 41.48S +35° 55' 19.3" P.A. 17 SEP 5.7 MAG 7.49,8.78 SP F2 DIST. 172.71 PC (563.38 L.Y.)

STF 2404: Both orange, very well split, around 7”
18H 50M 45.55S +10° 58' 35.2" P.A. 182 SEP 3.5 MAG 6.92,7.77 SP K5III+K3

BU 265: ~1.5”, faint, 2 delta mag
18H 50M 14.94S +11° 31' 21.5" P.A. 231 SEP 1.4 MAG 7.37,9.24 SP A1V+G:III

11 Aql = STF 2424: Yellow and very much fainter blue B, wide separation.  [AB seen, AC 13.4 mag]

18H 59M 05.73S +13° 37' 21.2" P.A. 302 SEP 21 MAG 5.32,9.30 SP F6IV

ENG 65: Bright star and very wide separated, very much fainter B.  There’s a few faint stars scattered about so likely is a system. [Indeed an AB & BC, both faint.  Not physical]

18H 59M 37.39S +15° 04' 06.5" P.A. 185 SEP 123.4 MAG 4.13,10.56 SP K1-III DIST. 47.51 PC (154.98 L.Y.)

STF 2428: 3 delta mag, wide yellow and blue.

18H 59M 56.53S +14° 54' 39.9" P.A. 287 SEP 6.7 MAG 8.22,10.31 SP F2

STF 2432:  White and 3-4 delta mag B, very wide separation.  Is B a pair?  Seems elongated; but could just be seeing, if stilled it resolves to point.

19H 01M 48.60S +12° 32' 27.5" P.A. 87 SEP 14.8 MAG 6.82,10.44 SP B8IV

STF 2471: Detected B with averted vision.  Wide and white; can hold B directly when I know where it is.

19H 10M 56.93S +08° 07' 17.6" P.A. 122 SEP 8.6 MAG 7.48,10.64 SP A9V

A98: Very faint but direct vision B is a point.  Very wide. [Need to look at this one again.  AB seen, A, BC, then BC is 11.0/11.1 1.1"]

19H 14M 15.99S -08° 43' 08.5" P.A. 130 SEP 23.5 MAG 6.65,11.00 SP K0IV DIST. 65.49 PC (213.63 L.Y.)

BU 140: Two stars could be B, about the same PA.  3 delta mag. [Correct about the 2 stars: AB listed; BC 10.4/11.65 7.8"]

19H 16M 52.12S -10° 58' 18.5" P.A. 312 SEP 47.7 MAG 6.92,11.65 SP G0V

HU 72: 553x & 738x could not resolve – need the 20-inch

19H 20M 24.68S -10° 33' 37.4" P.A. 66 SEP 1 MAG 7.10,11.10 SP M5III

KUI 91: Not resolved, need the 20-inch

19H 29M 21.36S -07° 02' 38.7" P.A. 225 SEP 1.6 MAG 6.37,11.70 SP F7-G1I-II

D20: A is part of a finder split, near equal pair?  B is very faint, 2 delta mag, very wide split.  A has a notched / trailing star in east PA – very close in and very much fainter.  With seeing.  Tough! [What I thought was B is not part of the system.  The A star has a close companion, 2 delta mag and 1.3", likely what I saw.]

19H 31M 15.78S -02° 06' 36.7" P.A. 65 SEP 1.3 MAG 7.22,9.58 SP B5V

BU 976: Cannot say I resolved it, in spite of perfect disk…

19H 32M 12.69S +09° 20' 03.5" P.A. 97 SEP 2.3 MAG 7.06,10.68 SP B9.5IV-V

BU 650: Very faint B, very wide separation.  Averted vision flashed another star very close to A, 2-3”, maybe just a reflection [not sure what the very close was, none listed.  Not a physical system though 6 stars in system.]

19H 32M 13.13S +06° 30' 11.3" P.A. 147 SEP 6.5 MAG 8.17,11.70 SP B9IVP

BU 249: Some brightening in diffraction, but cannot claim.

19H 38M 21.68S +00° 20' 43.6" P.A. 109 SEP 0.8 MAG 7.40,9.41 SP A7IV

STT 380: Diffraction a bit messy but seems olive shaped. [Maybe seen! Complicated system, many pairings.]

19H 42M 34.01S +11° 49' 35.8" P.A. 76 SEP 0.4 MAG 5.37,6.57 SP A3V+G0III

STF 2643: White, ~4”, 2 delta mag.

20H 12M 47.31S -02° 59' 45.4" P.A. 79 SEP 3.1 MAG 7.09,9.40 SP A0V

STF 2654: Wide, 1 delta mag

20H 15M 10.63S -03° 30' 12.9" P.A. 234 SEP 14.4 MAG 6.96,8.14 SP F2V+F4V

Rst 4659: White and 2-3 delta mag, 3” B.  A is elongated?  [Yes! A not elongated.  AC too wide and faint.]

20H 16M 50.26S -03° 29' 30.0" P.A. 7 SEP 1.8 MAG 7.16,9.19 SP F5

BU 56: Orange and blue.  Seeing not so steady anymore.  <1”, 1 delta mag.

20H 05M 07.26S -04° 18' 29.3" P.A. 187 SEP 1.3 MAG 8.01,9.10 SP F5

AC 12: Very nice light yellow-orange and blue-white stars, 1”, 1 delta mag.

19H 58M 22.77S -02° 13' 54.4" P.A. 298 SEP 1.6 MAG 7.54,8.32 SP F5

A170: Not seen, need the 20-inch

20H 32M 05.12S -05° 14' 32.5" P.A. 218 SEP 1.7 MAG 6.75,10.60 SP G8III

BU 672: Bright yellow with very faint, very wide pair. [Question if seen, since 12th mag is just on the other edge of my cutoff at home...]

20H 38M 20.27S -01° 06' 18.3" P.A. 285 SEP 35.8 MAG 4.41,12.00 SP G8III DIST. 103.41 PC (337.32 L.Y.)

I ended the night with Mars at 553x, around midnight with the planetary filter.  The view was slightly shifted from the night before, with more of Mare Tyrrhenum visible, but really could not see much more detail.  It is very low and I had lost the seeing, I think, marine layer would move in a short time later.