good progress on short period project

I had an excellent night last night at home with the 20-inch. Transparency was 3/5 with some moisture in the sky, brighter stars throwing off haze. But seeing was quite good, 7/10 but with moments of perfection, so I found I could push magnification way up. After doing a couple of sub 0.5" I decided to open up the short period list. I ended up observing twelve pairs from that list! Many exciting pairs. I found using the apodizing mask really helped so I left it on pretty much the whole time. I observed to past 11pm until I felt tired and the seeing and transparency started to fail. I'm glad I have my 20-inch set-up so I can exploit such nights.

HU 1225 AB: 508; 333x: Visible with 20" only, the B star is too faint for the 8" in these conditions. A is light orange, B a deeper orange compared with A, 4 delta mag and ~3.5".
05h 22m 56.87s +14° 21' 40.0" P.A. 320 sep 3.4 mag 7.82,11.00 Sp K0III dist. 198.41 pc (647.21 l.y.)

HU 1226 AB: 508; 533x: Suspected at 333x but a bit too fuzzy. Nice very clean split at 533x, slightly orange stars, near equal
05h 25m 05.57s +15° 21' 44.0" P.A. 55 sep 0.7 mag 9.77,9.85 Sp F0V

J 589 AB: 508; 533x: I thought this would be harder since they are faint but they're an easy, wide light blue star pair, near equal
05h 26m 28.22s +14° 55' 45.2" P.A. 193 sep 5 mag 11.90,12.21 Sp G2V

HJ 3273 AB: 508; 533x: Easy pair, bluish-white stars, near equal, wide. [did not notice FYM 218 AC, 10.24/13.80 18.5"]
05h 26m 39.80s +15° 12' 30.0" P.A. 47 sep 12 mag 10.24,10.11 Sp G0

BRT 1181 AB: 508; 533x: Easy pair, light blue stars, half delta mag, wide ~3.5" [not physical]
05h 26m 47.03s +14° 40' 52.3" P.A. 354 sep 3.5 mag 11.19,11.31 Sp F6V

TDS 3201 AB: 508; 533x: ! super fine but split, more than half delta mag, fine focus needed to remove any glare. What a nice pair, ice blue color stars.
05h 27m 40.03s +14° 08' 08.4" P.A. 237 sep 0.4 mag 9.47,9.69 Sp A0

HU 1228 AB: 508; 1067x: Snowman overlapping disks at best moments, one second out of ten. Slightly orange stars and slight mag difference.
05h 29m 48.07s +13° 34' 57.3" P.A. 16 sep 0.3 mag 9.80,9.80 Sp A

STT 165 AB: 508; 533x: 45 Gem. With apodizing mask. Bright light orange and very wide eleventh mag B, 4-5 delta mag, ~15". [not physical]
07h 08m 22.04s +15° 55' 51.3" P.A. 6 sep 16 mag 5.44,10.90 Sp G8III dist. 98.91 pc (322.64 l.y.)

WNC 2 A-BC: 508; 533x: Easy and obvious pair, bright 7th mag stars ~3". [This was a first try at the short period list but I missed the object, which is A 847 BC, 7.67/7.84 0.3" -- need to try again.]
05h 23m 51.32s -00° 51' 59.8" P.A. 158.3 sep 3.13 mag 6.87,6.96 Sp F6V dist. 55.71 pc (181.73 l.y.)

A 2462 AB; 508; 1067x: Short period list. Notched, noticeable magnitude difference, B star pointed in direction of apex of right triangle it forms with two other eighth magnitude stars. Light orange stars.
07h 02m 37.42s +15° 58' 26.5" P.A. 250.5 sep 0.2 mag 9.24,9.00 Sp G0V dist. 79.37 pc (258.9 l.y.)

SHB 1 AB; 508; 213x: Procyon B.  !! I got it! Wow! Using the 25mm plossl with occulting cross bars and a barlow, no apodizing mask to sharpen the diffraction spike, I set the cross bars over the diffraction spikes from spider to completely block all of A's light, I saw a constant small hard point to the north, ~5". The point moves around when I shift A and the cross bars in the view, and I can repeat it several times, so I'm confident it is not glare or an artifact. Wow this is great. However, I would like to repeat this observation on a different night, and also to check the separation in this optical train with an easier 5" pair -- extraordinary claims need back up [Update: on 4 March I did a comparison of the side using the 25mm eyepiece with barlow with a 4" separated pair, and based on the image scale I saw, I can confirm I did NOT see Procyon B.  What I saw in the above observation was much too far out from the A star.  I think using a cross-shaped occulting bar is the correct strategy, I just need to make one in a shorter focal length eyepiece to see it in an image scale I am used to]
7h 39m 18.12s +05° 13' 30 .0" P.A. 316.4 sep 4.62 mag 0.46,10.80 Sp F5IV-V+DQ dist. 3.51 pc (11.45 l.y.)

STT 185 AB: 508; 1067x: Without the apodizing mask I get a clean split with seeing but constant split with the mask. Light orange stars, noticeable mag difference.
07h 57m 16.39s +01° 07' 37.3" P.A. 23 sep 0.4 mag 7.10,7.30 Sp F7V dist. 61.96 pc (202.11 l.y.)



BU 101 AB: 508; 1067x: 9 Pup. Elongated to notched, orientation correct, light orange. Very tough. [B is coming off it's furthest orbit and will be exceptionally difficult in 10 years, but easier in 15 years]
07h 51m 46.31s -13° 53' 52.8" P.A. 303.7 sep 0.44 mag 5.61,6.49 Sp G1V dist. 16.5 pc (53.82 l.y.)


STF 1196 AB: 508; 533x: Zeta 2 Cnc = Tegmen. Lovely light orange pair, ~1", about 1 delta mag, with third slightly fainter as a triple (AB-C).
08h 12m 12.79s +17° 38' 51.2" P.A. 8.4 sep 1.14 mag 5.30,6.25 Sp F8V dist. 25.08 pc (81.81 l.y.)



BU 581 AB: 508; 1067x: ! With apodizing mask. Beautiful clean split, almost wide, light orange stars, slight mag difference. There is a third 2x fainter star further out, might be plus one. Wow. [3rd is AB-C, 8.46/11.78 5.5"]
08h 04m 23.10s +12° 17' 23.8" P.A. 229.5 sep 0.41 mag 8.46,8.83 Sp K0V dist. 33.2 pc (108.3 l.y.)

A 551 AB; 508; 1067x: LO Hya. With apodizing mask. Easy split, noticeable half delta mag. Another fainter star further out likely +1 [The +1 is STF 1233 AB-C, 6.42/10.49 18.3". AB at furthest extent of orbit, will tighten considerably the next 20 years]
08h 28m 29.16s -02° 31' 01.6" P.A. 62.9 sep 0.37 mag 7.00,7.10 Sp A5m dist. 74.57 pc (243.25 l.y.)



STF 3121 AB: 508; 533x: IP Cnc ! Split at 533x, used 1067x to recheck orientation. With apodizing mask. Light yellow-orange stars, nice and clean split, very slight mag difference. Real nice.
09h 17m 53.45s +28° 33' 37.7" P.A. 30 sep 0.51 mag 7.90,8.00 Sp K0 dist. 17.27 pc (56.33 l.y.)



A 1585 AB: 508; 1067x: Kappa UMa = Talitha australis: With apodizing mask. Much glare but snowman seen steadily inside the mess. Looks like Eta Carina nebula, with a larger bulge toward us and the smaller bulge pointed up and away. No field stars at this magnification, went down to 533x to notice one for the sketch.
09h 03m 37.56s +47° 09' 24.0" P.A. 282 sep 0.27 mag 4.16,4.54 Sp A1V dist. 109.89 pc (358.46 l.y.)



HJ 2477 A-BC: 508; 213x: Iota UMa = Talitha. Using 25mm occulting bars with barlow, no mask, putting the bright star's diffraction spikes under the bars, I can see the hard point of the B star, brighter & closer than Procyon B outside of A's glare. One other field star. [HJ 2477's period is 2735 years. The short period is BC is HU 628 9.90/10.10 0.9" 39 year period -- how in the world did he see that?]
08h 59m 12.45s +48° 02' 30.6" P.A. 106.2 sep 2.21 mag 3.13,9.20 Sp A7IV dist. 14.51 pc (47.33 l.y.)

HU 879 AB: 508; 533x: Beta LMi. With apodizing mask I see an out of roundness / olive shape, too much glare to tell orientation, no other field stars. [When I first put my eye to the eyepiece a passenger jet on landing approach to Oakland passed through the edge of the field and flashed its light!]
10h 27m 53.09s +36° 42' 26.9" P.A. 228 sep 0.52 mag 4.62,6.04 Sp G8III dist. 47.19 pc (153.93 l.y.)


STF 1273 AB-C: 508; 533x: Epsilon Hya A is bright orange-yellow, B is much fainter and a little blue, ~3". [SP 1 AB is 3.49/5.00 0.2" not seen]
08h 46m 46.51s +06° 25' 07.7" P.A. 309.8 sep 2.82 mag 3.49,6.66 Sp F8V dist. 39.64 pc (129.31 l.y.)

BAL 2347 AB: 508; 533x: B star considerably fainter needed averted vision to flash it out, but then hold it direct. Both stars a little blue, wide separation, half delta mag.
08h 47m 58.80s +03° 07' 39.5" P.A. 204 sep 4 mag 9.30,10.80 Sp A5

AGC 3 AB: 508; 533x: ! Rho Hya Bright white A star and much fainter B star, but it's still a hard bluish point very fine. Nice one
08h 48m 25.98s +05° 50' 16.4" P.A. 146 sep 12.1 mag 4.36,11.90 Sp A0Vn dist. 108.58 pc (354.19 l.y.)

A 2550 AB: 508; 533x: ! Wow exceptionally fine pair. B is very faint but can hold direct vision after flashing it out using averted vision. Very close, hairline split, amazing pair. At 1067x the stars dim a little can still see B but need averted vision all the time.
08h 48m 35.67s +03° 04' 05.2" P.A. 204 sep 0.4 mag 9.49,9.82 Sp F5

A 2552 AB: 508; 533x: ! Wow fine split. Pale yellow A and blue B, about one delta mag. Nice split, amazing [82.4 year period]
08h 48m 40.30s +00° 56' 31.0" P.A. 27.6 sep 0.3 mag 9.11,8.48 Sp F5 dist. 98.72 pc (322.02 l.y.)

BAL 2351 AB: 508; 533x: Easy wide pair, B star is very blue. One delta mag. [not physical]
08h 50m 30.10s +03° 32' 34.3" P.A. 110 sep 14.2 mag 9.30,10.60 Sp F8

STF 1290 AB: 508; 533x: White stars, wide, 2 delta mag
08h 52m 03.40s +04° 27' 58.0" P.A. 325 sep 2.8 mag 7.40,9.24 Sp A2 dist. 202.84 pc (661.66 l.y.)

A 2752 AB: 508; 533x: Easy wide pair, B is 1.5 delta mag and very blue
08h 53m 26.66s +05° 12' 47.2" P.A. 231 sep 5.1 mag 8.99,11.01 Sp A