27 august 2019

Seeing was not great last night, but transparency was even worse. Most of the stars I went for with hazy and unresolvable, even 1" separated 11th mags. I spent the second half of the session using the 8" mask. The area of Hercules I was in (16:40 -17:30) had many 11th, 12th, & 13th pairs which I needed to skip over. I was also a bit tired, so it was a short session, about an hour. No particular standouts, but a new designation observed, WFC

STF 2098: AB, AC, AD, 20" 333x: A four star system all within a mag of each other, forming a gentle arc. [Actually 5 stars, I missed DE which is 13th mag. Says it's physical -- all 5 are?]
16h 45m 43.47s +30° 00' 17.2" P.A. 145 sep 14.3 mag 8.77,9.61 Sp F2V dist. 89.69 pc (292.57 l.y.)

AG 351: 20" 333x: Pretty, near equal pair, 3" separated, light orange stars. In an asterism which looks like Orion, with these two forming a belt. [Surprise, this isn't physical]
16h 46m 16.28s +24° 37' 33.2" P.A. 304 sep 3 mag 10.27,10.65 Sp F8

TDT 82 AB 20" 667x: Tough, seeing and transparency not quote good enough. Suspected elongation at 333x and 667x showed one star pretty clearly but only a haze and elongation where fainter B was. [only one measure observation of this pair]
16h 46m 45.43s +27° 05' 26.9" P.A. 356 sep 0.6 mag 11.36,11.40

A 227 AB, 20" 667x: Easy near equal pair, light orange, 2"
16h 46m 56.49s +27° 00' 59.2" P.A. 237 sep 2.1 mag 10.46,10.50 Sp K0

HU 666 AB: 20" 667x: When A star settles down to a disk, the B star is an unresolved haze in the diffraction ring, very faint.
16h 47m 23.01s +23° 00' 06.2" P.A. 226 sep 0.5 mag 9.30,13.10 Sp G5

WEI 31 AB, AC, BC: 20" 667x: Two plus one system, the two closest AB nearly equal, AB a little fainter. White to yellowish white. Well separated all of them, surprised Struve missed them
16h 47m 35.08s +25° 38' 21.6" P.A. 317 sep 4.9 mag 9.94,10.12

STF 2107: AB, 20" 667x: Nice pair yellow and slightly blue two delta mag, about 1.5" [AC is 11.5 and much further separated]
16h 51m 50.10s +28° 39' 58.7" P.A. 107 sep 1.39 mag 6.90,8.50 Sp F5IV dist. 58.41 pc (190.53 l.y.)

STF 2109 AB 20" 667x: Yellow A and very light blue three delta mag wide separation B.
16h 53m 45.78s +21° 10' 22.6" P.A. 313 sep 5.9 mag 7.52,10.30 Sp K0 dist. 188.68 pc (615.47 l.y.)

TDT 163 AB 20" 667x: I can pick up both stars within a haze using averted vision, one is noticeably fainter than the other. Suspect elongation with direct vision. [one measured observation]
16h 58m 31.13s +23° 50' 35.7" P.A. 276 sep 1.2 mag 11.52,12.39

TDS 846 AB 20" 667x: Split very briefly at finest moment, after a lot of shimmer. Near equal to half a delta mag.
16h 58m 36.45s +26° 37' 00.9" P.A. 78 sep 1.2 mag 9.71,11.69

STF 2135 AB, 8" 667x: Down to 8 inch mask due to seeing. Pretty yellow star with widely separated 2 delta mag bluish B. [Not physical]
17h 12m 06.06s +21° 13' 44.4" P.A. 195 sep 8.7 mag 7.59,8.88 Sp K0 dist. 152.44 pc (497.26 l.y.)

WFC 189 AB " 667x: Faint near equal half delta mag blush stars, wide
17h 12m 11.20s +21° 36' 39.2" P.A. 302 sep 6.7 mag 10.03,10.64

BU 44 AB, AC: 8" 667x: Two plus one system, the closest 1 delta mag, the further pair fainter still. wide all [Not physical]
17h 13m 55.16s +28° 48' 09.0" P.A. 18 sep 5.6 mag 9.19,9.70 Sp A5

STF 2137 AB = V655 Her, 8" 667x: B pretty faint, wide separation, white stars. Transparency is poor now.
17h 13m 53.67s +15° 57' 03.2" P.A. 145 sep 4.1 mag 9.15,10.03 Sp A2 dist. 416.67 pc (1359.18 l.y.)

STF 3127 AB 8" 667x: Very bright yellow white A and bluish B at least four delta mag, wide separation., I don't think it would be seen but for the mask tightening A's diffraction
17h 15m 01.92s +24° 50' 22.5" P.A. 288 sep 12.7 mag 3.12,8.30 Sp A3IV dist. 23.04 pc (75.16 l.y.)

HU 489 AB, 8" 667x: Elongation with eight inch mask but not split 667x
17h 15m 32.00s +20° 06' 56.8" P.A. 36 sep 1 mag 10.38,10.81 Sp A5

sub 0.5"

HO 67 AB: 20" 667x: barely visible B star with 8" mask so went up to 20, obvious, wide, white and blue star, three delta mag [Missed the COU 993 split 1" 11.3 mag]
17h 17m 44.24s +35° 37' 02.9" P.A. 107 sep 1.1 mag 9.20,11.30 Sp A2

STF 2154 AB: 20" 667x: Pretty light yellow stars, one and half delta mag, wide separation. nice airy disks.
17h 18m 58.68s +44° 07' 54.7" P.A. 253 sep 1.7 mag 9.05,10.03 Sp F2+A2 dist. 186.57 pc (608.59 l.y.)

TDS 860 AB 20" 667x: Easy near equal wide orange stars. well split
17h 18m 07.56s +48° 03' 24.5" P.A. 61 sep 1.6 mag 11.03,11.21

BU 45 AB 20" 667x: Easy pretty wide pair, half delta mag, white stars. 17h 17m 57.85s +32° 29' 13.4" P.A. 291 sep 4.9 mag 9.97,10.62

BU 628 AB: 20" 1067x: !! Wow split clean, amazing. No resolution at 667x but at 1067x two airy disks, sep by half disk, half delta mag. Remarkable
17h 18m 22.22s +32° 39' 38.5" P.A. 261.7 sep 0.57 mag 9.48,9.56 Sp G0 dist. 140.85 pc (459.45 l.y.)

BU 630 AB: 20" 667x: Pretty light orange and bluish stars, well sep 1.5", 2 delta mag.
17h 19m 15.09s +32° 20' 15.1" P.A. 223 sep 1.5 mag 9.60,11.60

TDT 304 AB 20" 667x: Obvious pair if a little faint. wide separation, half a delta mag
17h 19m 32.83s +33° 21' 54.9" P.A. 130 sep 3.1 mag 11.69,12.47

COU 994 AB: 20" 1067x: !! At very best moments A presents a perfect disk, and a point resolves within the first faint diffraction ring, very faint and small Amazing.
17h 19m 44.04s +37° 02' 37.3" P.A. 214 sep 0.5 mag 9.40,11.20 Sp A2

A 2088: 20" 1067x: !!! sharp and clean split in best moments, seeing lasts a couple seconds. Otherwise it's touching disks.
17h 20m 32.37s +47° 38' 51.5" P.A. 7 sep 0.4 mag 9.90,10.00 Sp F8

COU 1777 AB 20" 1067x: An elongation in a haze, equal, not quite resolving
17h 22m 53.41s +47° 23' 21.9" P.A. 46 sep 0.5 mag 11.50,11.50

COU 1594 AB: 20" 1067x: !! Needed to wait for seeing but a very extraordinarily fine point resolves with the best seeing, seems much fainter than data but it's definitely there, a hard point.
17h 33m 59.60s +44° 28' 45.6" P.A. 332 sep 0.5 mag 10.65,10.62 Sp F8

FUR 2 AB 20" 667x: Well separated one delta mag light orange stars
17h 34m 21.47s +39° 03' 29.0" P.A. 51 sep 2.1 mag 10.85,11.45 Sp F8

COU 807: 20" 667x: ;definite elongation but mostly a tiny smear. too difficult. seem to be losing the sky transparency? 17h 35m 54.89s +32° 05' 25.7" P.A. 143 sep 0.7 mag 10.57,10.56 Sp K0

COU 1595 AB: 20" 1067x: Very close, extremely faint B resolves persistently within first diffraction, slightly hazy, with best moments.
17h 36m 29.51s +45° 43' 13.8" P.A. 265 sep 0.5 mag 8.88,10.71 Sp F8 dist. 214.13 pc (698.49 l.y.)

ES 636 AB: 20" 667x: Rather wide separation near equal stars.
17h 36m 34.70s +41° 42' 45.7" P.A. 124 sep 2 mag 10.51,11.42

HO 69 AB: 20" 667x: Very, very faint, slightly hazy round star appears just outside A's first diffraction ring. Very difficult needed to wait for best seeing.
17h 38m 05.67s +36° 55' 22.0" P.A. 139 sep 1.9 mag 8.69,12.50 Sp F5

COU 1596 AB: 20" 1067x: Olive to notched at best moments, equal stars
17h 42m 14.40s +44° 22' 59.1" P.A. 104 sep 0.2 mag 9.30,9.30 Sp F5

23 august 2019

Conditions last night were really poor, 2/5 transparency and 5/10 seeing in the 20", 6/10 with the 8" mask. A lot of faint close pairs were smudges, and I tried for more pairs than I actually logged, since I did not see them. I got a late start, and I was a bit tired, so it's a small harvest. I stayed in the area east of M13:

STT 322: AB: 20" 333x: For certain can see it with 20" at 333x, but the star images are bloated due to seeing. The 8" inch mask cleans the image up but the B star is considerably fainter. 3-4 delta mag 1.5" with 333x in 8 inch. B star looks blue.
16h 59m 46.42s +36° 55' 17.0" P.A. 205 sep 1.4 mag 7.90,10.17 Sp A2 dist. 174.83 pc (570.3 l.y.)

J 739 AB: 20" 333x: I sensed elongation with the 8 inch mask at 333x, but it was a haze only flashing elongation with averted vision. With the 20 inch the a star resolved, orange, and the B was noticed at 3" but was considerably fainter, I would guess 1.5 to 2 delta mag.17h 01m 41.52s +34° 59' 02.3" P.A. 159 sep 2.8 mag 9.10,10.50

J 740 AB 20" 333x: Well spilt, obvious at 20" 333x light orange and yellow stars.
17h 03m 14.59s +34° 58' 55.6" P.A. 224 sep 2.8 mag 10.20,10.90

ES 634 AB: 20" 333x: Half delta mag, well split white orange and light orange stars
17h 04m 00.87s +42° 11' 46.9" P.A. 93 sep 2.1 mag 10.80,11.62

STT 324: AB: 20" 333x: ! Very interesting. At 20 inch the a star was orange and bloated with the seeing, did not notice a pair. I used the 8 inch mask which tightened the A star up considerably, then with averted vision could discern a very faint small glow in one particular direction, but could not hold it direct. Back to the 20" and now in good moments I can see the B star quite well, 5 delta mag, bluish. 333x
17h 08m 00.70s +31° 12' 22.5" P.A. 222 sep 3.6 mag 6.00,10.70 Sp K3III dist. 458.72 pc (1496.34 l.y.)

SLE 79 AB, 20" 333x: 12th mag pair not so difficult when widely separated like this. Light orange near equal stars very widely split. Forms a triangle with two other stars. [not a physical pair]
17h 09m 09.66s +33° 41' 32.5" P.A. 219 sep 9 mag 12.10,12.30

TDT 236 AB: 20" 667x: One observation. At very best moments which last just a second, can see the hazy elongation resolve into hairline split. Unequal by a mag. I dare not try higher power. This was one of the triangle stars mentioned in the SLE 79 entry.
17h 09m 19.96s +33° 38' 32.2" P.A. 24 sep 0.7 mag 11.39,11.57

ALI 604 AB: 20" 333x: Orange and slight blue well separated, 2 delta mag.
17h 12m 57.15s +36° 56' 17.7" P.A. 176 sep 11.3 mag 9.71,11.90

TDS 857 AB VZ Her: 20" 667x: Tough, faint pair averted brightens the elongated haze, when seeing stills there are points very tight 1" 17h 13m 03.99s +35° 58' 43.0" P.A. 198 sep 1.1 mag 11.51,12.36 Sp kA2hA6 dist. 208.33 pc (679.57 l.y.)

STF 2161 AB Rho Her 8" 667x light yellow white stars 1 delta mag well separated.
17h 23m 40.97s +37° 08' 45.3" P.A. 321 sep 4.1 mag 4.50,5.40 Sp B9.5III dist. 120.63 pc (393.5 l.y.)

15 august 2019

Last night had better transparency than the prior nights, but only by a little. Still limited to about 12th mag for close pairs. Seeing was variable, but there were some stretches of truly excellent seeing, and the 20" put up great star images. Pointing accuracy was ok, mostly to the edge of the field at high power. I tried to stay within the same declination band to not move the scope around too much, and to sync with every star I confirmed -- which helped pointing. Still, there were so many stars to choose from. There were a lot of matched 10th and 11th pairs, almost a parade of them. I skipped over some fainter pairs.

HU 1279 AB: 20" 667x: very faint, some haze, but at best moments resolved to two points in the elongated haze.
16h 59m 44.52s +13° 19' 03.0" P.A. 156 sep 1.6 mag 10.41,11.66 Sp F5

STF 2140 = Rasalgethi: 8" inch mask due to seeing. AB orange and blue 4 delta mag. Faint AD seen very wide separation. pretty star. 20" 667x
17h 14m 38.86s +14° 23' 24.9" P.A. 102.7 sep 4.64 mag 3.48,5.40 Sp M5Ib-II dist. 110.25 pc (359.64 l.y.)

HEI 246 AB 20" 667x: Wow! very nice just nearly unequal close but well split orange stars. one is obviously fainter than the other but not by much
17h 18m 13.17s +15° 58' 13.7" P.A. 32 sep 0.7 mag 11.00,11.50

SLE 13 AB 20" 667x: Well separated one delta mag blue white stars. [not physical]
17h 18m 17.06s +19° 12' 14.0" P.A. 310 sep 11.3 mag 10.14,11.70

TDT 309 AB;2019 August 15 10:50p;20";very faint, elongated small haze most of the time resolving slightly to balls briefly. very small. [Only one recorded observation -- the discovery!]
17h 19m 39.37s +19° 46' 37.5" P.A. 48 sep 1 mag 12.25,12.33

COU2625 AB 20" 667x: Very fine, again a bit of a haze then second star resolves with averted vision. close but well split 2 sec. seems unequal mag.
17h 19m 51.27s +18° 05' 48.0" P.A. 9 sep 2.2 mag 10.50,11.50

STF 2160: AB 20" 667x: Pretty light yellow white and slightly blue B, three delta mag, well separated pair.
17h 24m 33.80s +15° 36' 21.7" P.A. 66 sep 3.9 mag 6.40,9.28 Sp B9V dist. 153.37 pc (500.29 l.y.)

HEI 247 AB 20" 667x: Very nice near equal well separated light orange stars.
17h 26m 00.60s +14° 23' 45.4" P.A. 103 sep 2.1 mag 10.47,10.90

A 2184 AB 20" 667x: Wow! real nice when seeing stills and with some critical focusing the diffraction of the star tightens and the three delta mag B shows on its own as a sharp point well separated and round. Really great view
17h 27m 32.79s +16° 27' 24.5" P.A. 31 sep 1.9 mag 7.31,10.57 Sp F0 dist. 73.64 pc (240.21 l.y.)

COU 627: AB 20" 667x: Another great looking orange pair near equal. nice
17h 33m 55.48s +17° 46' 40.8" P.A. 145 sep 2.2 mag 9.86,10.86 Sp K0

WDS J16229+3815A = PPM 133790 20" 667x: Yet another near equal 2" separated pair, light orange. There seem to be many in this region of the sky,

STF 2205 AB: 20" 667x: Half delta mag light orange star about 1" separated (in this scope it is quite wide)
17h 45m 41.03s +17° 43' 00.7" P.A. 14 sep 0.94 mag 9.37,9.59 Sp K0

STF 2217 AB & AC: 20" 667x: Two stars near equal mag white wide, a fainter off to one side of one star
17h 46m 40.19s +14° 46' 44.6" P.A. 285 sep 7 mag 8.77,8.92 Sp G0 dist. 126.58 pc (412.9 l.y.)

HU 1288: AB 20" 1067x: Awesome! clean split, very clean star images. Split by half disk, half delta mag. very cool great catch! suspected at 667x, ramped up power to 1067x to split.
17h 47m 09.16s +15° 02' 13.8" P.A. 161.4 sep 0.44 mag 8.31,9.37 Sp A0 dist. 311.53 pc (1016.21 l.y.)

HEI 254 AB: 20" 667x: Half delta mag orange stars wide separation.
17h 47m 46.02s +16° 19' 03.2" P.A. 274 sep 2.3 mag 10.40,11.60 Sp K5

STF 2222: AB: 20" 667x: Yellow-white stars 2 delta mag well separated.
17h 47m 53.16s +14° 48' 30.5" P.A. 63 sep 2.3 mag 8.41,9.73 Sp K0

ADS 10806 = WDS 17483+1547A = BD +15 03275: 20" 667x: Very fine near equal light orange stars well separated

TDT 519 AB 20" 667x: Extremely fine pair; brightens and elongated with averted vision but it's better to let the seeing settle down the hazy refraction and can see points of stars.
17h 48m 54.56s +16° 33' 10.7" P.A. 225 sep 1.1 mag 11.79,11.92

FOX 22 AB 20" 667x: Half delta mag; actually appears well split, two tiny dots, resolved from haze with seeing. Very cool.
17h 50m 41.55s +15° 16' 15.4" P.A. 339 sep 1 mag 10.69,11.26

J 2117 AB 20" 667x: Bluish A, very faint B appears with averted vision at first then can barely hold direct, faint, wide separation [not physical]
17h 50m 50.91s +14° 59' 06.4" P.A. 199 sep 5.1 mag 9.80,12.30

TDT 536 AB, 20" 667x: Very fine pair, well split, 1 delta mag, yellow white stars. Very tight but a nice wide clean split. Resolves with seeing.
17h 51m 18.78s +17° 23' 08.7" P.A. 62 sep 1 mag 10.37,10.79

STT 338 AB: 20" 667x: Yellow white very clean split stars seem more equal than what the data says
17h 51m 58.46s +15° 19' 34.9" P.A. 163.2 sep 0.83 mag 7.21,7.38 Sp G8III dist. 234.19 pc (763.93 l.y.)

L 17 AB 20" 667x: Faint half delta mag stars, orange for faintness, wide separation
17h 52m 30.76s +15° 31' 31.0" P.A. 291 sep 2.4 mag 10.50,11.20

STF 2245 BA 20" 667x: Pretty orange and blue seem more equal mag than data, wide separation [MCA 49 Aa,Ab 0.1" not seen!]
17h 56m 24.24s +18° 19' 38.1" P.A. 111 sep 2.5 mag 7.43,7.55 Sp A0III dist. 240.96 pc (786.01 l.y.)

AG 357: AB 20" 667x: Yellow and burnt orange stars, half a delta mag, wide separation [not physical].
17h 57m 41.89s +17° 06' 34.1" P.A. 190 sep 2.9 mag 9.44,10.36 Sp G5

J 3268 AB 20" 667x: ;faint but obvious, well separated, near equal. [not physical]
17h 58m 22.68s +18° 14' 12.1" P.A. 216 sep 4 mag 13.30,13.80

A 1375: AB: 20" 667x: 20" 667x: Fine equal pair, well separated, points with seeing.
18h 00m 24.40s +21° 11' 36.1" P.A. 93 sep 1.8 mag 9.60,10.60 Sp F5

STF 2264 AB = 95 Her: 20" 667x: Orange and blue, wide, bright. I may be losing the seeing
18h 01m 30.41s +21° 35' 44.8" P.A. 256 sep 6.5 mag 4.85,5.20 Sp A5IIIn dist. 127.88 pc (417.14 l.y.)

STT 534 AB 20" 667x: One star definitely brighter by at least one mag than the other. Well separated
18h 04m 59.56s +21° 26' 31.9" P.A. 269 sep 2.3 mag 8.50,10.48 Sp G0

HU 317 AB: 20" 667x: Light orange stars, well separated, near equal.
18h 11m 20.44s +17° 13' 17.8" P.A. 205 sep 1.5 mag 9.63,9.69 Sp G0

14 august 2019

Had a pretty good night last night.  Seeing started out well, 7/10, but it and the transparency deteriorated by midnight.  It was very warm during the night, so it's possible I had some boundary layer issues, though I didn't try the fan -- I should next time out.  I found with the lists I'm using, that I can mostly stay on the ladder without moving too much, though I do start to fall behind in sidereal time and need to adjust every hour or so.  I still need to get better pointing accuracy.  I did Vega and Arcturus as alignment stars and that seemed ok, but there's enough error even with local sync that I need to find the stars with the charts sometimes -- and even then the charts don't agree with what I see in the eyepiece.  The computer is very laggy, and it might be worth investing in a new one.  Observed until midnight.

TDS9883 AB: 20: 667x: Very extraordinarily fine, only at the best moments, a very close pair hairline split, very faint.
16h 24m 38.78s +31° 59' 42.9" P.A. 299 sep 0.8 mag 11.70,11.94

TDS9780 20" 667x: B star shows itself only with averted vision. Very faint. Tight but well split
16h 10m 19.66s +35° 05' 56.4" P.A. 47 sep 0.9 mag 11.34,11.66

STF 2004 AB 20" 677x: Nice airy disks. Orange stars 1 delta mag, well split, very pretty
16h 03m 12.42s +28° 51' 06.5" P.A. 278 sep 1.8 mag 9.52,10.33 Sp K2 dist. 1052.63 pc (3433.68 l.y.)

TDS 797 AB: 20" 667x two near equal very faint stars resolve from haze with averted vision.
16h 02m 25.87s +35° 53' 56.5" P.A. 95 sep 0.9 mag 11.39,11.80

AG 200 AB: 20" 667x light orange yellow, fine, well split 3" equal.
16h 01m 09.14s +39° 36' 11.8" P.A. 217 sep 3.1 mag 10.62,10.94

S 676 AB = Rho CrB: 20" 667x bright orange star with very obvious wide B, 3 delta mag
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.)

STT 304 AB: 20" 667x: yellow orange, bright, with wide sep 3 delta mag pair.
16h 00m 54.94s +39° 10' 39.0" P.A. 173 sep 10.4 mag 6.77,10.64 Sp A0 dist. 136.24 pc (444.41 l.y.)

COU 803 AB: 20" 667x: very fine, very nice pair, equal, well separated close pair.
15h 56m 52.06s +32° 44' 11.7" P.A. 217 sep 1.6 mag 11.14,11.22

HJ 577: AB 20" 667x: wide separated orange-yellow and blue, 1 delta mag. nice
15h 56m 48.71s +35° 30' 15.6" P.A. 13 sep 9.4 mag 9.34,10.46 Sp K0 dist. 78.25 pc (255.25 l.y.)

COU 1447 AB 20" 667x nice pair, equal, well separated, faint.
15h 51m 14.02s +38° 36' 27.8" P.A. 297 sep 2.3 mag 10.97,11.27 Sp G5

HJ 574: 20" 667x light orange star with two rather fainter in a near line, fainter one (AB) closer in (further is AC).
15h 50m 18.44s +32° 24' 22.4" P.A. 93 sep 15.8 mag 9.30,12.31 Sp F8

BU 621: 20" 667x: ! nice, split with seeing, 2 delta mag, very close, very slightly orange and yellow stars.
15h 49m 49.96s +44° 31' 19.5" P.A. 26 sep 0.7 mag 7.94,9.37 Sp A2V dist. 411.52 pc (1342.38 l.y.)

ES 1554: 20" 667x: near equal but wide separated stars, 10th 11th mag.
15h 49m 51.07s +43° 50' 42.1" P.A. 3 sep 4.9 mag 11.00,11.20

STF 1982 AB: 20" 667x: near equal wide separated orange stars.
15h 49m 51.25s +42° 47' 19.6" P.A. 300 sep 4.9 mag 9.95,10.12 Sp F8 dist. 270.27 pc (881.62 l.y.)

WDS J16147+3854A = PPM 79150: 20" 667x: orange star, can just barely see B star ex. faint with averted vision as a small point. large delta mag.
16 14 43.9505234971 +38 53 58.575143521

BU 810: 20" 667x: very cool light orange and blue, close but very good split. 2 delta mag.
15h 51m 00.24s +42° 27' 59.5" P.A. 86 sep 1.6 mag 9.13,10.85 Sp K0

STF 2333: 20" 667x: wide separated yellow and orange, 2 delta mag. [AB seen, several other pairings not seen]
18h 31m 06.94s +32° 14' 43.4" P.A. 333 sep 6.4 mag 7.82,8.57 Sp B9IV dist. 216.92 pc (707.59 l.y.)

STF 2426 AB: 20" 677x orange and blue stars, will separated, 2 delta mag. [BC is 14th mag 4.2" and may be possible on a drier night18h 59m 58.76s +12° 53' 24.1" P.A. 261 sep 16.6 mag 7.45,8.96 Sp A5V+K2III dist. 300.3 pc (979.58 l.y.)

CrB doubles

Last night had pretty good, but not perfect, seeing. I ended up leaving the scope at full 20-inch aperture to. As usual I stayed at 667x throughout. There is a high pressure system over the Bay Area, meaning hot days and nights, decent seeing (except for local turbulence from rooftop and other materials releasing their built-up heat during the night) but also poor transparency as haze and pollutants are trapped in a bubble. It doesn't help I'm at the bottom of that bubble at 28' elevation -- if only I lived on a mountain! I stayed in CrB mostly to keep out of the roof currents. I observed until about midnight, and had looks at Saturn and the moon, but seeing was poor mainly because of roof currents.

My pointing accuracy was not very good; I think because I have poor choices for alignment stars and there was not enough difference in altitude (I used Altair and Arcturus).

STF 2044 AB: 20" 333x: nice orange and slightly blue stars, well split, near equal
16h 24m 10.41s +37° 02' 11.9" P.A. 341 sep 8.2 mag 8.43,8.79 Sp K0 dist. 90.33 pc (294.66 l.y.)

H5 38 AB = 23 Her: 20" 333x. wide pair, white and 3 delta mag pair. spiky diffraction from the boundary fan

BU 951 AB-C, 20" 667x: Wow seeing is amazing getting airy disks 20 inch 667x, orange and blue stars, very nice split, dare I say wide [AB is near equal 0.1" pair, try again to notice out of round]16h 23m 32.23s +33° 21' 27.8" P.A. 32 sep 1 mag 9.29,10.10 Sp G0

KU 53 AB : 20" 667x: Double-double in field, this is the equal pair brighter white, wide. The other is faint, 1 to half delta mag, closer together.
16h 22m 54.07s +38° 15' 28.7" P.A. 49 sep 5.3 mag 10.40,11.10 Sp F8

PKO 15: 20" 667x This is the fainter pair discussed in the last entry (KU 53). Faint, well split but closer. A star light orange, B bluish white. faint a bit hazy.
16h 22m 38.86s +38° 18' 29.2" P.A. 32 sep 2.5 mag 10.98,12.19

Nu 1 CrB: STFA 29: nice bright orange finder split. AD is a wide faint star in the scope 20" 667x. seeing beginning to hurt.

COU 981: 20" 667x: Marginal with poor transparency and nearly full moon. It's a little too hazy to be sure, but there is certainly an elongation in that haze, or rather the haze is large enough to contain the two stars.

HU 1172: 20" 667x: nice near equal well spit pair, whitish yellow
16h 18m 47.11s +31° 53' 51.0" P.A. 327 sep 1.8 mag 10.02,10.06 Sp F5

TDS9841: 20" 667x: Very faint pair but with averted vision could notice and then hold direct. Half delta mag, wide
16h 19m 51.32s +27° 27' 38.5" P.A. 350 sep 2.6 mag 12.49,13.32

HJ 584: 20" 677x: A star is orange, B a little blue, faint. Good wide split, obvious.
16h 17m 44.07s +39° 14' 25.0" P.A. 200 sep 15.4 mag 10.16,13.47 Sp G0

A 348: 20" 667x: tried hard but did not get...
16h 16m 05.43s +29° 36' 27.4" P.A. 153 sep 1 mag 9.03,10.92 Sp F5 dist. 118.76 pc (387.4 l.y.)

STF 2032 = Sigma CrB: 20" 667x: AB nice bright half delta mag wide. two more stars in system, one (AC) closer fainter, other (AD) further away.
16h 14m 40.85s +33° 51' 31.0" P.A. 239 sep 7.3 mag 5.62,6.49 Sp G0V+G1V dist. 21.08 pc (68.76 l.y.)

POP 103: 20" 667x: Seeing and haze getting worse. B star noticed & seen better averted vision but can hold direct. Wide split, 2 delta mag.
16h 13m 59.63s +35° 10' 16.1" P.A. 54 sep 3.9 mag 10.75,13.30

STF 2029: 20" 677x slightly yellow and blue stars, wide, still see airy disks.
16h 13m 47.82s +28° 43' 55.9" P.A. 188 sep 6.1 mag 7.95,9.62 Sp F4IV dist. 133.16 pc (434.37 l.y.)

HJ 260: 20" 667x: wide faint near equal, just like the data says
16h 11m 50.72s +37° 25' 00.3" P.A. 27 sep 19.8 mag 11.44,13.34

STT 305 AB: 20" 667x: yellow orange and blue, wide, 2 delta mag Pretty. [Did not notice 13th mag AC]
16h 11m 39.60s +33° 20' 33.8" P.A. 263 sep 5.7 mag 6.44,10.17 Sp K2III dist. 154.56 pc (504.17 l.y.)

COU 1276 AB 20" 667x: ! Good find, B star only visible averted vision, flashes out obvious and clear.
16h 08m 52.28s +37° 58' 00.8" P.A. 55 sep 2.7 mag 10.95,12.90 Sp F8

STF 2011 AB 20" 667x: Fine pair, 2 delta mag, blue white and dull b almost brown.
16h 07m 38.27s +28° 59' 43.6" P.A. 67 sep 2.7 mag 7.93,10.23 Sp A8IV dist. 307.69 pc (1003.68 l.y.)

WDS J16071+3507A = PPM 79056; 20" 667x: 1 delta mag faint pair, wide, not sure I would have picked it out as double.

HJ 581: 20" 667x: faint wide near equal.
16h 04m 14.01s +32° 22' 10.9" P.A. 56 sep 21.2 mag 11.96,12.05

TDT1045: 20" 667x: very marginal. very faint star feels not round
18h 46m 18.10s +08° 20' 43.0" P.A. 301 sep 0.9 mag 11.72,11.84

RST4605 20" 667x: ! Very, very fine, faint, split, quarter delta mag. Very tough considering proximity to nearly full moon with poor transparency. Nice!
18h 50m 58.96s -02° 38' 02.2" P.A. 141 sep 0.9 mag 11.25,11.55

it's alive! (roboscope)

Last night I hooked up a 25' long serial cable to the ServoCAT and was able to use SkyTools to control the telescope, while on my ladder with my laptop on the stand. This is my intended use case and I was so very pleased it worked! I was able to pick targets off a list (stars within a constellation sorted by RA) and usually keep the same ladder position, slew star to star, make and log my observation...

There's only a few minor issues, but all solvable. I have a lot of lag in my altitude up button on the hand controller; I may need to check my balance and maybe switch to a single super long cable. Pointing accuracy is not super great (meaning lands within the field of a high power eyepiece); I can redo AutoCAL and do a TPAS Super Align -- will need to create a list for it. The computer sits precariously on the stand, so I need to secure it some how; and it ran out of battery after a couple hours. Also the computer runs very slowly, and the list auto refresh (even at 5 minutes) is really annoying, I want to turn it off. But overall I'm very pleased, I think I will be able to observe a lot of interesting stuff.

Conditions last night were worse than predicted. Seeing was middling, and there was a rather thick marine haze in the air, reducing the number of faint stars I could go after. My list generated to 14th magnitude for some pairs and I skipped over those and stayed 11th magnitude or brighter. I observed until about midnight -- I was prepared to stay longer but seeing was too poor.

WDS J18429+0545A / HD 172979: 333x, 8": pair of 9th mag stars, well split, half delta mag. Used for alignment
18h43m51.2s;+05°45'50" [not in Stelle Doppie]

STF 237 AB: 333x 20" First robo scope observation! Near equal obvious split. seeing not all that great, full aperture. [B star is 0.1" pair equal mag]
18h 45m 28.36s +05° 30' 00.4" P.A. 121 sep 2.5 mag 6.34,6.73 Sp A1V dist. 188.68 pc (615.47 l.y.)

STT 360 AB: 8" 333x: lovely orange stars, two delta mag, used the 8 inch mask to clean up the image, very nice
18h 38m 39.84s +04° 51' 17.3" P.A. 282 sep 1.7 mag 6.86,9.14 Sp K2III dist. 142.25 pc (464.02 l.y.)

A 355 AB 8" 667x: tough for tonight's conditions, poor transparency and a nearly full moon. very faint star with very close companion like two smudges
18h 36m 19.32s +05° 15' 37.5" P.A. 143 sep 1.3 mag 9.40,10.93 Sp A0

BU 1328 AB First to find with the help of the on board chart; the FOV seems pretty accurate. Two orange stars, 1 delta mag, well split. 667x 8"
18h 40m 57.82s +03° 01' 36.4" P.A. 282 sep 2.1 mag 9.01,9.95 Sp K2

STF 2324 AB 8" 667x nice near center of field for once. very well split white stars, half delta mag
18h 30m 58.45s +01° 23' 30.8" P.A. 149 sep 2.4 mag 9.04,9.37 Sp B8 dist. 2631.58 pc (8584.21 l.y.)

STF 2347 AB: 8" 667x. orange and light blue, pretty without diffraction, wide separation, 2 delta mag. [not physical]
18h 37m 56.63s -00° 23' 09.1" P.A. 259 sep 3.4 mag 8.07,9.75 Sp B2V

A 2193 AB: 8" 667x/ Pair of white stars, half delta mag. found very quickly slew to. Nice pair. Very clean split.
18h 55m 51.23s +03° 22' 30.8" P.A. 357 sep 1 mag 8.77,9.19 Sp F0

RST 5450 AB: 8" 667x At very best moments, which are fleeting, I see very tight but nicely split pair, 1 delta mag, both faint. Resolves from a haze. Nice.
18h 32m 32.53s +00° 36' 06.9" P.A. 252 sep 0.8 mag 10.26,10.31 Sp K2

STF 2379 AB AC: 5 Aql8" 667x, but that's overkill. Wide triple.
18h 46m 28.58s -00° 57' 41.9" P.A. 122 sep 12.6 mag 5.88,7.02 Sp A2V

STF 2402 AB: 8" 667x Lovely near equal, tight but well split. Forms a perfect triangle with two other stars
18h 49m 44.14s +10° 40' 35.4" P.A. 208 sep 1.5 mag 8.94,9.27 Sp A3

BU 265 AB: 8" 667x Very tremulous B star appears with seeing, surprisingly difficult for the mag, maybe because so close.
18h 50m 14.94s +11° 31' 21.5" P.A. 231 sep 1.4 mag 7.37,9.24 Sp A1V+G:III dist. 520.83 pc (1698.95 l.y.)

STF 2404 AB 8" 667x: Light orange and light blue, pretty. seeing is surprisingly bad even with mask
18h 50m 45.55s +10° 58' 35.2" P.A. 182 sep 3.5 mag 6.92,7.77 Sp K5III+K3 dist. 386.1 pc (1259.46 l.y.)

STF 2408: AB 8" 667x With seeing, 1.5 delta mag well split pair, nice. [not physical]
18h 51m 58.05s +10° 46' 48.9" P.A. 91 sep 2.3 mag 8.47,9.38 Sp A0 dist. 699.3 pc (2281.12 l.y.)

HU 199 AB: 8" 667x: Wow! With seeing very tight very faint but split near equal. very cool.
18h 52m 07.48s +11° 47' 54.3" P.A. 345 sep 0.9 mag 9.05,9.54 Sp F5 dist. 214.59 pc (699.99 l.y.)

HJ 5505: 8" 667x: near equal wide white stars.
18h 57m 42.01s +09° 42' 01.8" P.A. 123 sep 14.5 mag 9.41,9.46 Sp G0 dist. 53.3 pc (173.86 l.y.)

TDT 1106 AB; 8" 667x: Marginal, maybe a smear but too tentative.
18h 52m 50.94s +08° 10' 34.2" P.A. 257 sep 0.5 mag 10.59,10.87

HO 91 AB = FF Aql: 20" 667x: Yellow light star but no pair seen with mask, but the pair is obvious when I used full aperture, sitting just above the primary, well split, 4 delta mag.
18h 58m 14.75s +17° 21' 39.4" P.A. 146 sep 7 mag 5.44,10.12 Sp F8II dist. 473.93 pc (1545.96 l.y.)

good night at willow springs

Finally had a night out at Willow Springs 3000. Steve and I met up at the entrance at 7pm. It was not too hot. I drove Harry’s F250 and had a lot of fun going up the dirt road, careful not to get too far ahead of Steve. The property was overgrown, as was to be expected, but it was mostly weeds and not tall grass. I used the weed whacker to clear out the observing area. It was windy and a little cold; the wind didn’t let up until very late at night. The air was moist, and we only got to about 21.4 on the SQML. But it was fun to be out. I brought my 10” Springsonian and binoculars. I intended to keep it a low power night, but as I searched around for objects on my atlas found I was interested to see galaxies and such, so ended up using higher powers. I started out at the base of Scorpio’s tail to exploit the good southern horizon. (Images DSS2 snipped from Aladin unless otherwise noted).

The area around Zeta Scorpius is a busy place. It’s already thick with stars, but then one adds 7 open clusters of varying sizes and densities, dark and emission nebula, and there is a lot to spend time seeing. Zeta & Zeta 1 Sco form a nearly perfect triangle with a third star; Zeta is orange and the other two blue-white. Slightly northeast is another bright star but with a sparkling of faint stars around it, which is NGC 6227. Just to the north is NGC 6231, a compact open cluster of loose stars, the brighter of which form a baby scorpion asterism (hence its nickname), with a fine mist of fainter stars shimmering behind them. There is a line of stars connecting this OC to another, larger cluster, Tr 24, which is very open with strings of stars flowing east. Two more open clusters sit at the southern border, ESO-332-8 & Ru 122, but both of these appeared as very faint, tight knots. I added a H-beta filter to view IC 4628, the Prawn Nebula, which appeared as a bright, curved thick arc (its back) with faint streamers (legs) reaching down to feed on the stars in Tr 24. A small nebulous cloud appeared just north east off of the Prawn’s back (still part of the same nebulous complex). Two more small, fine open clusters appeared to the north, NGC 6268 which was tight and bright, and NGC 6242 which was slightly larger and looser, and had a pretty bright red star on its southern border. Lastly, dark nebula B48 lies along the eastern edge of the field like a lake.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/24062854@N04/4802705615/



Ly 13 Open cluster, condensed but loose collection of stars, well detached from surrounding (shows better than this DSS capture). With H-beta filter, there is extremely faint nebulosity to the north and east, a milky sheen without definition; the nebula is part of RCW 113.



NGC 6192: Open cluster, out on its own in a star poor area. It is visible in my 50mm finder as a hazy glow. Oval shaped, resolved to many stars like a loose globular cluster.


H-beta wisps south of Omicron Sco. Some time ago I noticed two faint wisps to the south and east of Omicron Scorpius in my atlas, with notation they were visible with H-Beta filters. This night was a great opportunity to try. I spent a good while searching for the one lying between Omicron and NGC 6388, and sensed a thin column like smoke from a cigarette resting on an ashtray’s edge. I moved up from 37x (7mm exit pupil) to 50x (5mm exit pupil) which seemed to help bring out the nebulosity more. NGC 6388 itself very bright, condensed, and round in a bright star field – terrific. It was a round haze at 37x and stars resolved throughout at 84x. The wisp looking like a lazy Epsilon to the south west of NGC 6388 was easier to spot, and I could follow the column shape pretty much as shown in the atlas. It reminded me of the Veil Nebula. The wisps appear to be part of a larger nebula complex, perhaps a bubble?

NGC 6441, “Silver Nugget” Cluster: Bright globular cluster, an easy Telrad find from Scorpio’s stinger stars, as it is next to the brightest star just to the east of the stinger (in the DSS it looks like a twin of the star). Round, very bright, condensed in the middle, with a round hazy halo glowing around it with strings of stars like spokes. Viewed at 37x, 50x, 84x, with greater resolution each time.


H1-52, Planetary Nebula: Seen at 137x and OIII: Small, round shell which blinks, brighter thick tire shape with fainter middle. No central star seen. To the south east of a narrow four star kite asterism. (Tough to see the PN in the DSS, so I kept the reticle in the image; there were not nearly so many stars visible in the scope).

M55: Seems to me this globular is somewhat neglected, off on its own to the east of Sagittarius in a fairly small-scope-DSO-poor part of the sky. I find it every bit as engaging as M13 and M22.

The area around NGC 6723, on the north east boarder of Corona Australis, is another busy area. NGC 6723 is a beautiful globular, nicknamed the “Chandelier” for the bright streamers of stars flowing out from the core to the south east. There are two bright stars to the south east of the cluster, both of which have bright emission nebula around them (NGC 6726-7 & IC 4812) making them look like headlights shining through fog. Another nebula, NGC 6729, was a bright small puff near the northern star. Between the cluster and these stars is a soft-bordered dark nebula, SL 41, medium opacity. Then, flowing further to the south east is dark nebula SL 39-40, which is more opaque but still with a soft boarder to the mist of stars behind. All of this was well seeing at 37x 2.4° TFOV; I had to pan the scope to follow the extent of SL 39-40.


I took a break to pan around the sky with my binoculars: 15x70 and 2.1x42 on a mirror mount. I was so pleased to see dark nebula just about everywhere along the Milky Way. Using the 2.1x42s gave a huge perspective. Everyone is familiar with Cr 399, The Coathanger, as seen in scopes and binoculars, but I was shocked to find it lying along the shore of The Great Rift like a small group of flowers as I followed it down from Cygnus. It was a really special view, tough for a photo to do justice to. 


Then for something completely different: NGC 6822, Barnard’s Galaxy. Very faint and diffuse elongation with two stars on the northern edge. Saw at 37x, better seen at 50x. Steve invited me to his scope to look at two globular clusters in the center of the glow, H-VI and H-VII. I tried for a good while in my 10”, but I had a tough time identifying the correct field. I think I was looking too far out from the center. I did see one non-stellar glow with certainty, which I think was probably H-II region MCG-2-50-3. But I’m too uncertain about this to claim.



I noticed this time the southern constellation Grus was up, and having never explored it gave it a try:

NGC 7213: Very close to a bright star Alnair (alpha Grus); I can see the galaxy with the star in the field, but it’s better with the star moved out of the field. Slightly elongated halo NE-SW, stellar nucleus and bright round core. 10” 84x.


NGC 7117 & 7118: Pair of nearly identical galaxies to the NE of a pair of orange, widely separated stars. Bright round cores, elongated NE-SW 2:1.


NGC 7144 & 7145: Another pair of nearly identical galaxies. Both bright and round with very bright nuclei. Pretty star field.


NGC 7232: Two pretty orange stars and three galaxies crowded around them. The brightest is NGC 7232, bright elongated 3:2 E-W. NGC 7233 was a faint round mottle on the east tip of NGC 7232. Just above the two stars, with averted vision, I could just discern the small faint elongated glow of NGC 7232B.

NGC 7496: Elongated N-S, bright on N side, mottled. This is a quite beautiful barred spiral (though I did not see structure), with a light orange star on the N tip of the halo.

NGC 7476: Small, faint elongated N-S 3:1; the east side of the halo is much fainter than the west. Makes a triangle with two blue-white stars. [It appears I sensed the southern spur, if not the arm spinning out from it to the north]


Grus Quartet: What a beautiful sight!! Four galaxies I can get into view at 50x. Furthest east is NGC 7599, a 3:1 NE-SW elongation with a bright nucleus and turbulent halo, suggesting spiral. Next to it is NGC 7590, a compact bright 2:1 also NE-SW. They both point SW to NGC 7582, a 4:1 edge on with a faint halo and elongated core; this one is longer by half than the other two. Further to the SW, which I can fit into the FOV, is NGC 7552, a faint round mottled glow with a bright nucleus. 


HCG 90: Located 1.5° NW of Upsilon PsA, I could make out four galaxies: 90b is fairly bright and round, with a very faint elongated extension flowing from it to the south west seen with averted vision; this is 90d / NGC 7174. 90c, NGC 7173 is an identical fairly bright round galaxy just above this pair. 90a floats aloof from this smash-up, a mottled 3:1 W-E elongation, faint with mottling (the mottling is a dark lane running the axis). 


For my final object I wanted to see the Sculptor Dwarf, ESO 351-30. I tried for this before, most recently at CalStar last fall, but had failed. To get there I went on a grand finale tour of deep sky objects, all of which were visible in my 50mm finder and all of which were in a fairly straight north to south pan. Starting from Beta Ceti (Daneb Kaitos), hopped to NGC 247, the Dusty Spiral; then down to NGC 253, the “Silver Dollar” galaxy, looking especially turbulent and spectacular in the scope; then NGC 288, one of the great globular clusters; then finally hopping down three sets of brighter wide star pairs. The Sculptor Dwarf hangs from the last of these like a water drop. I tried 37x at first and added a Wratten #12 filter (which is supposed to suppress blue and highlight the old red stars such as those in dwarf galaxies). I sensed a large curved glow but was unsure. I went to 50x and the smaller exit pupil, and could see with averted vision a large glow, oval shape. I believe this to be the central part of the galaxy, since the area seemed less than what was plotted in the atlas. To finish this string of wonders, I moved the scope down four more degrees to NGC 300, the “Sculptor Pinwheel,” which was fairly bright, mottled oval mess with a bright nucleus.

robo scope!

Last night I updated the firmware on the Argo to 3.0.1 and reloaded my set-ups.  After doing the 2 star align I set-up the connection to my laptop and SkyTools, and it worked!  ST showed the telescope's current location and I was able to slew to new objects via ST.  So excited to have this capability in place, I will make much use of it.  Next up is to do the super align to really dial the scope in.  I'm excited to have this progress and hope to have many productive nights with it.