4 november 2019

Transparency was poor last night, with some light dew and lingering smoke haze.  But seeing was pretty good, about 7/10, with moments of better.  So while I could not go after faint pairs, I could get some very close pairs, which is always exciting.  I viewed the moon after dinner in the binoviewer, then started in with doubles after 9pm.  I adjusted the offset from GMT in the Argo, and that fixed the pointing error I had the night before.  However my laptop's clock did not automatically adjust to daylight savings, and I turned in an hour earlier than I wanted to, thinking it was time for bed!

STI 1437 AB: 8" 533x: Obvious pair, wide, ~15" or so, one delta mag [not physical]
00h 49m 32.95s +55° 33' 54.4" P.A. 299 sep 11.1 mag 9.73,10.98 Sp A0

BU 232 AB: 8" 533x: Nice, well split, near equal. Part of a triple, the next one much wider in same PA and two delta mag. [AB-C is 10.06 24.5"]
00h 50m 25.10s +50° 37' 49.6" P.A. 256.4 sep 0.85 mag 8.46,8.79 Sp F5 dist. 101.11 pc (329.82 l.y.)

MLR 27: 20" 1067x: ! Split with seeing, tremulous in turbulence but does split when settled. Noticeable delta mag.
00h 51m 10.71s +60° 18' 54.2" P.A. 212 sep 0.5 mag 10.23,10.16 Sp F5

BU 1 AB: 20" 533x: L shape asterism and the short end tip star has a faint close star, AB. There's a zigzag of four faint stars making an arc beyond this short L. Given this is really an open cluster this is not surprising. [not physical]
00h 52m 49.22s +56° 37' 39.5" P.A. 83 sep 1.5 mag 8.58,9.33 Sp O6.5V dist. 3030.3 pc (9884.84 l.y.)

STI 1460: 20" 533x: B is a faint star, pretty wide, unremarkable [not physical]
00h 52m 55.81s +55° 20' 16.9" P.A. 92 sep 9.6 mag 9.20,12.90 Sp A5 dist. 578.03 pc (1885.53 l.y.)

STF 70 AB: 20" 533x: Yellow-white A and widely separated B, a small point, 3 delta mag
00h 53m 47.53s +52° 41' 21.6" P.A. 247 sep 8.1 mag 6.33,9.49 Sp A0 dist. 88.42 pc (288.43 l.y.)

HU 1018 AB: 20" 533x: Excellent pair, near equal, ~1", very fine.
00h 54m 14.98s +51° 08' 12.0" P.A. 61 sep 0.9 mag 9.88,10.27 Sp K0 dist. 76.86 pc (250.72 l.y.)

A 1258 AB: 20" 1067x: ! Yes! I got it split, what a sight! Suspected at 533x. Reddish A, 1 delta mag brighter than blue B. Perfect star images. Nice color pair.
00h 54m 23.37s +54° 31' 41.0" P.A. 202 sep 0.6 mag 9.73,9.90 Sp G0

HU 802: 20" 1067x: ! Hairline split to overlapping, 1 delta mag, super fine
00h 54m 53.84s +49° 24' 18.9" P.A. 222 sep 0.4 mag 7.81,10.01 Sp A0 dist. 364.96 pc (1190.5 l.y.)

TDS1665 AB: 20" 1067x: ! Can tell is double, elongated, and I got one split in ten seconds, seeing needs to be perfect.
00h 55m 08.24s +57° 13' 30.8" P.A. 30 sep 0.5 mag 10.47,10.54

TDS1667 AB: 20" 533x: Pretty well split once it resolves out of the haze into two near equal points.
00h 55m 25.53s +59° 50' 59.9" P.A. 296 sep 0.6 mag 10.59,10.63

ES 405 AB: 20" 533x: Pretty, near equal white stars, wide separation
00h 55m 41.89s +57° 47' 06.1" P.A. 117 sep 4.4 mag 10.24,10.36

TDS1670 AB: 20" 1067x: ! Rather wide, well split with seeing, bluish stars due to faintness. Very nice pair.
00h 55m 57.82s +58° 32' 38.9" P.A. 26 sep 0.7 mag 11.58,11.61

HLD 4: 20" 533x: Yellowish stars, nicely split, a near equal. [this pair is widening, will get a little easier, was 1" at discovery in 1881 -- Holden, Lick director.]
00h 57m 35.79s +54° 23' 44.8" P.A. 52.7 sep 0.45 mag 9.00,9.50 Sp G0