28 october 2020

The night of the 27th I observed the moon with my 6-inch refractor, mostly lovely views of the moon.  I started to have intermittent tracking problems; the motors make a kind of electrical crackling noise, and the RA wheels will turn but they seem to not affect the worm.  I don't know if there are bad teeth in the main gear or if the smaller wheel is loose.  I always thought this mount was too small for the scope.  Frustrating.  I did have it working long enough to see the dark part of the moon occult a bright star, it's fun to watch it just wink out suddenly, like a light switch turned off.

I observed last night with the 20-inch.  The seeing was predicted to be better, but it wasn't, so for most of the session I used the 8-inch mask.  Transparency was hurt by wildfire smoke which came up from southern California and puddled over the Bay Area.  A lot of easy pairs but toward 10:30pm I switched to full aperture with the apodising screen for a couple challenges.  Also the nearly full moon.  At the end of the night I had pretty fantastic views of the moon and Mars through binoviewers.  So it was a good night all the same.  And at least the tracking worked.  I can't observe without it now.

HEI 286 AB: 203; 205x: B is very faint, averted vision only and very close, but able to see it despite the moon and wildfire smoke in the air.

21H 32M 34.77S +13° 50' 14.6" P.A. 268 SEP 2.2 MAG 10.81,12.40

STF 3112 AB: 203; 205x: Light yellow-orange A and deeper dull orange B, wide, ~2 delta mag.  Physical. 
21H 34M 29.74S +09° 29' 58.9" P.A. 239 SEP 7.1 MAG 7.96,10.32 SP G0 DIST. 78.37 PC (255.64 L.Y.)

HJ 1661 AB: 203; 205x: Slight magnitude difference, wide, slightly yellow red.  Physical.
21H 35M 56.46S +26° 22' 10.6" P.A. 85 SEP 11.9 MAG 9.28,9.30 SP F8 DIST. 223.71 PC (729.74 L.Y.)

HJ 1668 AB: 203; 205x: ~1 delta mag, wide, slightly yellow-orange A
21H 37M 24.08S +23° 39' 30.0" P.A. 37 SEP 7.9 MAG 9.04,10.44 SP F8

STT 455 AB: 203; 205x: ~2 delta mag, wide white stars.  Physical

21H 56M 40.43S +16° 07' 25.3" P.A. 271 SEP 10 MAG 8.57,10.29 SP F8 DIST. 83.82 PC (273.42 L.Y.)

 

STF 2849 AB: 203; 205x: Very fine, ~2 delta, ~2".  A is blue-white and B is similar but much fainter, a very fine point. Nice. 

21H 57M 43.20S +20° 14' 29.9" P.A. 244 SEP 1.7 MAG 8.69,10.37 SP G5 DIST. 123 PC (401.23 L.Y.)

GCB 63 AB: 203; 205x: Not found.  Should have been able to see but did not.  Last observation was in 1970 and there have only been 3 observations. 
22H 04M 00.00S +24° 09' 00.0" P.A. 2 SEP 1.6 MAG 10.50,11.00

STF 2859 AB: 203; 205x: Pretty tough for tonight's poor transparency.  Faint, slight magnitude difference, ~4".  Brighter white pair on edge of field. 

22H 05M 58.84S +20° 36' 20.6" P.A. 344 SEP 3.8 MAG 10.01,10.65 SP G0

STF 2895 AB: 203; 205x: In a trail of three doubles across the field.  This is the middle pair, ~1 delta mag, wide.  To the south is a near equal and faint pair, to the north is the widest separation pair with a slight mag difference. 

22H 20M 44.74S +24° 57' 24.7" P.A. 49 SEP 14 MAG 8.49,9.95 SP K0III-IV DIST. 310.56 PC (1013.05 L.Y.)

CHE 439 AB: 203; 205x: B is wide and faint, seen with averted vision, ~2 delta mag. 
23H 22M 30.20S +41° 46' 03.2" P.A. 17 SEP 6.6 MAG 8.80,10.30 SP F2

STF 3010 BC: 203; 205x: Seen with averted vision and can then can hold.  It has nearly the same PA as the AB pair, so all three stars are in a line, though BC's separation is far tighter.  A very nice set, and surprisingly not physical.

23H 23M 30.68S +45° 47' 18.6" P.A. 125 SEP 11.9 MAG 9.50,12.50 SP K8 DIST. 43.78 PC (142.81 L.Y.)

STF 2987 AB: 203; 205x: Nice white and blue-white pair, ~3 delta mag, wide ~4" 
23H 10M 21.28S +49° 01' 06.0" P.A. 154 SEP 3.4 MAG 7.42,10.41 SP G1V DIST. 45.39 PC (148.06 L.Y.)

A 198 AB: 203; 333x: Hairline split at best moments, slight mag difference (more than the data suggests)
23H 13M 07.83S +46° 22' 13.0" P.A. 344 SEP 0.6 MAG 10.06,10.10 SP K0

BU 1221 AB: 508; 205x: B is faint and close, but still seen well, ~2", ~3 delta mag.  
23H 27M 59.12S +42° 25' 07.0" P.A. 147 SEP 2.1 MAG 9.94,11.30 SP A5 DIST. 1041.67 PC (3397.93 L.Y.)

A 109 AB: 508; 333x: Hairline split at 205x, but a better look and wider split with 333x.  It seems closer than the 0.9" in the data.  Noticeable delta mag, more than one tenth. 

23H 29M 04.80S +43° 23' 50.0" P.A. 312 SEP 0.9 MAG 10.12,10.36 SP A2

STF 3024 AB: 508; 205x: V389 And.  ~1 delta mag and ~5", slightly blue-white stars.  Physical.

23H 32M 01.31S +43° 49' 20.5" P.A. 309 SEP 4.9 MAG 8.63,9.35 SP A0 DIST. 381.68 PC (1245.04 L.Y.)

ES 110 AB: 508; 205x: A pretty triple, AB is close ~5" and ~1 delta mag, C is 3 times further and 90-degree difference in PA, about the same mag as B
23H 33M 37.33S +49° 19' 03.3" P.A. 36 SEP 5.3 MAG 10.16,11.20

COU 2672 AB: 508; 333x: Extremely fine hairline split at best moments, significant delta mag, very close. 

23H 35M 08.64S +49° 08' 03.7" P.A. 291 SEP 0.6 MAG 10.20,10.60

21 october 2020

Last night's transparency started out poor, but in a reverse of normal circumstance improved a bit through the night.  Seeing was borderline average to good, and in the beginning I vacillated between full aperture & the 8-inch mask, until finally settling on full aperture with the apodising mask.  Observed until about 11:30pm, and some good pairs seen.

STT 463 AB: 508; 205x: Beautiful yellow A star and much fainter deeper yellow B, ~4", very attractive.  Physical
22H 10M 19.66S +13° 44' 56.9" P.A. 2 SEP 3.6 MAG 8.19,11.46 SP G0 DIST. 51.92 PC (169.36 L.Y.)

CHE 329 AB: 203; 205x: Faint pair, B seen with averted vision, ~5", very nice.  Physical 
22H 10M 56.02S +12° 03' 04.8" P.A. 87 SEP 4.9 MAG 11.49,12.70

BU 698 AB: 203; 205x: B seen with averted vision, and then I can barely hold it direct with foveal coaxing.  Widely separated and large delta mag.  Discovered with the 18.5-inch at 9.97".  Burnham called it "fixed," which it seems it is not after all.

22H 11M 54.70S +06° 53' 46.7" P.A. 338 SEP 10.7 MAG 7.18,11.80 SP A7IV DIST. 91.66 PC (298.99 L.Y.)

HDS 3150 AB: 508; 667x: Heavily notched snowman at both 667x & 1067x.  Light orange stars, significant mag difference.  It wants to split but won't with the seeing this night.
22H 12M 13.37S +08° 27' 38.0" P.A. 296 SEP 0.2 MAG 9.05,9.33 SP F8 DIST. 133.51 PC (435.51 L.Y.)

HU 978 AB: 203; 205x: Beautiful close split ~1", noticeable delta mag, light yellow A and light blue B.
22H 12M 45.31S +13° 54' 37.0" P.A. 205 SEP 1.2 MAG 9.12,9.58 SP G0

BU 699 AB: 203; 205x: B is very much fainter and just barely noticed with direct vision at both 205x & 333x, ~2", light orange A.  Burnham discovered with the 18.5-inch at 2.04"

22H 13M 44.35S +07° 42' 53.9" P.A. 183 SEP 2.3 MAG 7.90,12.00 SP K2 DIST. 298.51 PC (973.74 L.Y.)

HU 287 AB: 508; 333x: Seen at 205x but have a better view at 333x.  A is a brighter light yellow-white and B very faint, very close in, ~1" but seems closer due to the large delta mag.  Resolved with seeing.  Physical
22H 17M 06.55S +08° 22' 27.3" P.A. 80 SEP 1.3 MAG 7.73,11.24 SP F0 DIST. 153.61 PC (501.08 L.Y.)

A 628 AB: 508; 205x: Very fine but resolves nicely, B is a bit more than 1" separated, light yellow-white A and bluish B. 
22H 21M 11.35S +10° 53' 41.1" P.A. 223 SEP 1.2 MAG 8.64,11.60 SP K0

STF 2898 AB: 508; 205x: Easy wide one delta.  Physical.
22H 22M 17.81S +11° 04' 48.6" P.A. 283 SEP 12.6 MAG 9.13,10.36 SP F7V DIST. 56.02 PC (182.74 L.Y.)

HO 292 AB: 508; 205x: White A and ruddy B which is much fainter, wide.
22H 23M 15.11S +05° 38' 47.8" P.A. 65 SEP 3.9 MAG 7.66,11.24 SP A2 DIST. 141.04 PC (460.07 L.Y.)

STF 2901 AB: 508; 205x:  Ice blue A and yellow-orange B, ~2", very attractive pair
22H 24M 27.45S +03° 49' 05.8" P.A. 149 SEP 3.3 MAG 9.22,10.05 SP F0 DIST. 228.83 PC (746.44 L.Y.)

BU 291 AB: 508; 667x: Strongly notched overlapping disks, significant mag difference.
22H 27M 42.95S +04° 31' 24.6" P.A. 220 SEP 0.4 MAG 9.80,9.80 SP F8

COU 5 AB: 508; 333x: Very finely split at 205x, very definite with 333x.  White near equal stars
22H 28M 10.32S +09° 10' 06.2" P.A. 250 SEP 0.9 MAG 10.52,11.16 SP G0

STF 2925 AB: 508; 205x: Wide white stars, near equal
22H 37M 52.89S +05° 54' 25.8" P.A. 4 SEP 7.2 MAG 9.66,10.35 SP F5 DIST. 248.76 PC (811.46 L.Y.)

HO 296 AB: 508; 667x: Definite smaller point or appendage sprouting from A's disk, >1 delta mag, and more than subtle notching.  PA is to the north which matches the current position.   Physical with 20.83 year period, now at 0.362", it will close rapidly and likely be impossible to detect by 2023, then become detectable (at 0.3") by 2029.  One to keep an eye on.  

22H 40M 52.71S +14° 32' 57.5" P.A. 38.7 SEP 0.362 MAG 6.14,7.22 SP G4V DIST. 33.8 PC (110.26 L.Y.)

STF 2931 AB: 508; 205x: Dull orange-white A and light orange B, wide, almost 2 delta mag.  Physical
22H 41M 17.77S +13° 10' 31.2" P.A. 149 SEP 4.5 MAG 9.13,10.15 SP K0 DIST. 63.09 PC (205.8 L.Y.)

BU 480 AB: 508; 205x: Very finely split at 205x's small scale thirteen, ~1", half delta mag, nice pair
22H 41M 23.32S +04° 43' 21.3" P.A. 62 SEP 1.1 MAG 9.68,10.21 SP G0

BU 711 AB: 508; 205x: Very fine, ~1.5 delta mag, >1" separation, nice
22H 45M 27.86S +11° 11' 30.9" P.A. 349.2 SEP 2.65 MAG 10.25,11.43 SP K6V: DIST. 41.61 PC (135.73 L.Y.)

HO 482 AB: 508; 533x: !! Excellent split, white stars, slight magnitude difference, really good.  Physical with 383 year period
22H 51M 26.66S +26° 23' 27.9" P.A. 14.3 SEP 0.57 MAG 7.34,8.29 SP A9V DIST. 132.63 PC (432.64 L.Y.)

COU 239 AB: 508; 205x: ! Really excellent pair, faint but comfortably split, slight delta mag, very pretty
22H 51M 56.95S +22° 19' 21.0" P.A. 297 SEP 2.1 MAG 10.95,11.36 SP F5

good night with some short period pairs

I tried once more with my camera, and was able to live stack and see stars.  But the picture on the screen is very grainy and there is lag in the picture when slewing the scope.  Still could not take a capture.  Slow progress.  I notice in online forums others are using this camera for double star work, so it can be done -- I just need to learn how.

Seeing was very good but not spectacular.  Due to neighbor's lights I pointed to the north after the first few observations so my back would be to the lights.  There are plenty of pairs in Lacerta, Andromeda, and Cassiopeia, it's a very rich area.  Seeing was good enough to go after some interesting short period pairs.  Observed doubles from 9pm to 1am.  Some dew, a little chilly.  When I needed to slew more than a couple degrees after midnight I disengaged the drives and pushed the scope manually, so that I would only have a short, and quieter, slew to the target.  I used the Disable Tracking command in SkyTools to get a more accurate estimate of the PA on the short period pairs, it helps a lot.

HEI 296 AB: 508; 667x:  Hairline split at 533x, nice clean at 667x.  Light orange stars, with seeing, near equal.
22H 48M 42.32S +13° 49' 28.6" P.A. 9 SEP 0.2 MAG 10.70,10.70 SP F5

STF 2902 AB: 508; 205x: Bright orange-yellow stars, wide, noticeable delta mag. 
22H 23M 34.02S +45° 20' 59.9" P.A. 89 SEP 6.5 MAG 7.62,8.22 SP G5 DIST. 203.25 PC (663 L.Y.)

ES 1281 AB: 508; 205x: Blue-white A and B appears red-orange, ~2 delta mag, wide.  Not physical.
22H 24M 36.31S +47° 20' 19.6" P.A. 170 SEP 5.7 MAG 9.36,10.60 SP A0

BU 700 AB: 508; 205x: Blue-white A and ruddy B, very wide.  Not physical
22H 26M 27.78S +49° 41' 24.6" P.A. 333 SEP 10.2 MAG 8.64,12.40 SP A0

HO 184 AB: 508; 205x: Close pair, well separated ~2 delta mag.  There is a 10th mag C component which has a 11th mag 0.2" pair 
22H 26M 28.16S +43° 31' 38.8" P.A. 293 SEP 2.6 MAG 10.09,11.61 SP A0 DIST. 980.39 PC (3198.03 L.Y.)

ES 1467 AB: 508; 205x: A is a bright light orange.  B appears in my shifting vision as I scan about the field, a extremely faint point of light which fades away as soon as I notice it.  Well separated but still in A's glow.  Very fine. 7.23 delta mag!
22H 28M 03.51S +44° 07' 14.0" P.A. 229 SEP 9.3 MAG 6.77,14.00 SP M1III DIST. 319.49 PC (1042.18 L.Y.)

COU 2328 AB: 508: 667x: Attempted but not seen, the stars are too faint to resolve a close separation. 
22H 28M 25.41S +47° 29' 20.1" P.A. 152 SEP 0.7 MAG 10.92,11.33 SP G0

A 187 AB: 508; 333x: Light orange A is bright, B is blue and appears after foveal coaxing, ~2".  Challenging, with apodising mask 
22H 28M 29.33S +48° 32' 34.4" P.A. 127 SEP 2.3 MAG 8.05,11.61 SP K0 DIST. 505.05 PC (1647.47 L.Y.)

COU 2448 AB: 508; 533x: Hazy elongation only, stars are too faint to resolve well
22H 28M 40.73S +49° 43' 05.0" P.A. 37 SEP 0.8 MAG 10.90,11.33 SP A2

HO 295 AB: 508; 1067x: Very subtly notched elongation, can tell B from A.  Elongation suspected at 667x.  One field star another just out of view.  Short 30 year period, it will tighten rapidly and return to 0.3" in 2034. 

22H 38M 47.47S +44° 18' 49.9" P.A. 335.8 SEP 0.3 MAG 7.48,7.98 SP F9V+G5V DIST. 38.2 PC (124.61 L.Y.)

KR 60 AB: 508; 205x: DO Cep.  Easy pair, reddish B, lots of stars around including a near equal double to the WNW separated about 5".  KR 60 will make a quarter turn in its orbit by 2035.

22H 27M 59.20S +57° 41' 43.8" P.A. 229.7 SEP 1.73 MAG 9.93,11.41 SP M3.5+M4.5 DIST. 4 PC (13.05 L.Y.)

STT 12 AB: 508; 667x: Lam Cas.  Very bright, through the speckle pattern I can see elongation with subtle notch with B maybe to the west? [Correct!]  Two other stars in field.  Short period, 245 year period but it's whipping around A at the moment, 0.112" now, will make a quarter turn by 2037 but still be nearly the same impossible separation.

00H 31M 46.32S +54° 31' 20.3" P.A. 243.5 SEP 0.112" MAG 5.33,5.62 SP B8V+B9V DIST. 115.74 PC (377.54 L.Y.)

A 1512 AB: 508; 205x: B just comes into view with passing vision as I scan scanning about the field, not averted vision but more just moving my eye about.  I can hold it direct, very faint in A's bright light orange glow. Very nice 

00H 57M 33.41S +37° 03' 46.3" P.A. 328 SEP 6.8 MAG 8.72,13.70 SP F2 DIST. 146.2 PC (476.9 L.Y.)

A 925 AB: 533x: Attempted, but I could not see the B star, even when seeing is very good and A is a nice light orange round disk.  Should have been gettable at 1"  
00H 58M 41.44S +44° 57' 22.5" P.A. 109 SEP 1 MAG 7.77,10.41 SP G5 DIST. 187.97 PC (613.16 L.Y.)

COU 1505 AB: 508; 1067x: Elongation at 667x, a squat little snowman at 1067x.  White, slight mag difference

00H 59M 24.14S +40° 56' 31.9" P.A. 138 SEP 0.2 MAG 9.30,9.45 SP A0 DIST. 219.3 PC (715.36 L.Y.)

COU 1655 AB: 508; 333x: Very faint pair, nice and clean split with seeing, well separated with 333x, suspected at 205x, significant mag difference 

00H 59M 54.89S +42° 56' 48.8" P.A. 4 SEP 1.3 MAG 11.06,12.16

STF 79 AB: 508; 205x: 164 And.  Dual white headlights, slight mag difference.  Physical
01H 00M 03.56S +44° 42' 47.7" P.A. 195 SEP 7.9 MAG 6.04,6.77 SP B9.5V+A2V DIST. 119.05 PC (388.34 L.Y.)

COU 2255 AB: 508; 205x: Split clean with just 205x, very tight pair, noticeable magnitude difference, near to bright star.
01H 00M 15.51S +48° 01' 57.8" P.A. 13 SEP 0.8 MAG 11.02,11.58

MAD 1 AB:  Exceptionally fine split with 333x, obvious with 533x, getting really nice airy disks.  ~2 delta mag, <1", pale yellow A and very light green B.  Physical pair with a 925 year period. 
01H 00M 35.58S +47° 19' 14.6" P.A. 357.8 SEP 0.75 MAG 7.66,9.05 SP A2

COU 2256 AB: 508; 533x: Clean split with seeing, ~1 delta mag, A is white B is dull.
01H 01M 02.12S +48° 29' 34.3" P.A. 133 SEP 0.5 MAG 10.31,10.52 SP G0

ES 1492 AB: 508; 205x: Nice delicate pair, ~2 delta mag, well separated
01H 01M 38.99S +43° 57' 24.9" P.A. 73 SEP 3 MAG 9.83,12.20

STT 21 AB: 508; 333x: Nice pale yellow bright stars, ~2 delta mag, needed 333x clearly resolve, ~1".   Physical pair with 450 year period.

01H 03M 01.54S +47° 22' 34.1" P.A. 175.7 SEP 1.17 MAG 6.76,8.07 SP A9IV DIST. 96.06 PC (313.35 L.Y.)

 

A 1810 AB: 508; 205x: Attractive pair, ~3" and >1 delta mag 
01H 05M 11.36S +43° 54' 00.6" P.A. 182 SEP 3.1 MAG 9.66,10.55 SP G5

CHR 6 Aa-Ab: 508; 1067x:  This is a component of Iota Cas, STF 262 (which is a really pretty triple).  CHR 6 at 1067x and seeing through the speckle image, I get elongation with a suspected blunter end which I assume is the B side, PA to the north [it's actually to the south -- my general orientation is correct but mis-interpret the brighter end].  Physical with 47 year period, currently at periastron and will tighten to 0.2" by 2036.  
02H 29M 03.96S +67° 24' 08.7" P.A. 20 SEP 0.66 MAG 4.63,8.48 SP A5PSR DIST. 40.73 PC (132.86 L.Y.)

COU 1657 AB: 508; 533x: Attempted but no luck, the stars are too faint to resolve
01H 05M 20.90S +43° 40' 04.1" P.A. 265 SEP 0.4 MAG 10.80,10.80 SP A0

COU 1658 AB: 508; 205x: Very tight near equal pair, split even with 205x, near some brighter stars.
01H 07M 39.12S +44° 47' 07.3" P.A. 33 SEP 0.9 MAG 10.65,10.82

BU 397 AB: 508; 205x: AB is an easy pale gold A and blue B.  AC more difficult since C is much fainter, seen only with averted vision at twice the separation as B, and about forty degrees wider PA.
AB: 01H 07M 49.57S +46° 50' 31.6" P.A. 142 SEP 8.7 MAG 7.54,10.25 SP K0II-IIIP DIST. 172.71 PC (563.38 L.Y.).  AC: SEP 19.3 MAG 7.54,12.90 

ES 1360 AB: 508; 205x: Faint pair, significant delta mag. pretty close.

01H 08M 11.44S +45° 20' 40.7" P.A. 262 SEP 2.8 MAG 10.80,11.10

AC 13 AB: 508; 533x: ! AB is paired with a widely separated 11th magnitude C star forming HJ 2018.  A splits beautifully at 533x, ~0.5", nearly 2 delta mag.
01H 08M 53.15S +45° 12' 26.9" P.A. 265 SEP 0.6 MAG 8.05,9.50 SP A0V DIST. 298.51 PC (973.74 L.Y.)

A 932 AB: 508; 533x: Nice wide clean split at 533x, ~1", significant delta mag

01H 09M 23.31S +44° 53' 41.2" P.A. 333 SEP 0.9 MAG 9.53,10.61 SP F8

STT 515 AB: 508; 677x: Phi And. I get elongation in the speckle matter, but no better resolution.  Bright 0.52" pair 
01H 09M 30.12S +47° 14' 30.6" P.A. 114.6 SEP 0.52 MAG 4.59,5.61 SP B7VE DIST. 219.78 PC (716.92 L.Y.)

BU 398 AB: 508; 205x: Fine near equal white stars.  Burnham discovered with the 6-inch at 1.85"
01H 11M 52.40S +47° 47' 54.4" P.A. 44 SEP 1.8 MAG 9.31,9.38 SP A2 DIST. 201.61 PC (657.65 L.Y.)

STT 38 BC:  A component of STF 205, of which A is a brilliant orange and BC bright blue.  In BC I  can only see elongation through the speckle at 667x and 1067x.  Short 62.63 year period which will get "easier" to about 0.2" by 2045.

02H 03M 53.92S +42° 19' 47.5" P.A. 123.3 SEP 0.179" MAG 5.30,6.50 SP B8V+A0V DIST. 120.48 PC (393.01 L.Y.)

  

VYS 2 AB V547 Cas.  Faint, very fine pair, seen at 205x and had a better look at 333x.  Wide, ~4" slightly reddish faint stars.  SkyTools brought this up as a short period pair, however it won't make a significant change in my time.  It turns out A is also a pair, MCY 1 Aa-Ab, 10.8/12.5 0.5" with a period of only 15.59 years -- discovered by one D.W. McCarthy (no relation!) in 1989 during the first results of the Steward Observatory Infrared Speckle Camera using their 2.3 meter telescope.  The Ab star has a mass of only 0.18 of the sun.  I think it is gettable visually with the Challenger on a good transparent night, or with the Lick Great Refractor if I ever have the good fortune to observe with it.

00H 32M 29.43S +67° 14' 08.8" P.A. 185.5 SEP 3.69 MAG 10.62,12.20 SP DM2.5E DIST. 10.07 PC (32.85 L.Y.)

18 october 2020

I gave my new camera a try last night, but it was a bit of a fail.  I could only see 1st magnitude stars (Altair) on the laptop screen, and when I tried to run captures there were no stars.  That won't work.  I'm trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong.

After 9pm I moved back to visual doubles.  Seeing was supposed to be better but it wasn't -- so I could not really push the limits.  It's forecasted to be excellent tonight, we'll see.

POU 5454 AB: 508; 205x: A is a relatively bright light yellow and B a fine point, much fainter, well separated.
21H 39M 44.20S +24° 56' 56.8" P.A. 87 SEP 7 MAG 8.49,11.60 SP K0III

J 287 AB: 508; 205x: Fine pair, well separated ~1 delta mag.  Not physical
21H 41M 56.43S +16° 16' 56.8" P.A. 348 SEP 3 MAG 11.30,11.60

BRT 2499 AB: 508; 205x: One delta, well separated
21H 43M 06.40S +21° 57' 16.9" P.A. 207 SEP 4.8 MAG 10.00,10.80

POU 5468 AB: 508; 205x: B very faint indeed, seen with averted vision only, wide
21H 43M 52.01S +24° 07' 24.5" P.A. 295 SEP 8.5 MAG 8.62,12.70 SP K0 DIST. 312.5 PC (1019.38 L.Y.)

HU 1656 AB: 508; 205x: Wonderful sharp close pair, half delta mag, blue-white stars, ~2" separation
21H 45M 53.00S +21° 54' 29.5" P.A. 305 SEP 2.2 MAG 11.33,11.31

L 36 AB: 508; 205x: In the field is a pair of bright white very wide stars, L 36 is a faint echo of these, much closer together, hanging over one of the bright stars.  While a pretty contrast, it is not physical.  Lewis of Greenwich Observatory.

21H 45M 57.78S +25° 32' 26.8" P.A. 295 SEP 4.7 MAG 11.40,11.90

 
HO 608 AB: 508; 533x: Difficult hairline split at small scale with 333x, easy with 533x, with seeing, white stars, >1 delta mag

21H 46M 48.94S +27° 18' 09.7" P.A. 130 SEP 0.6 MAG 8.98,9.90 SP F2

A 300 AB: 508; 205x: Lovely close pair, ~1 delta mag, ~2".
21H 47M 26.09S +28° 34' 26.4" P.A. 252 SEP 2.3 MAG 9.09,10.50 SP A2

HU 378 AB: 508; 667x: Notched elongation with, obvious magnitude difference, but no better resolution.
21H 48M 03.49S +20° 59' 39.1" P.A. 297 SEP 0.2 MAG 9.00,9.80 SP G5

POU 5518 B-CD: 508; 205x: BU 1306 AB and A-CD are nice, each ~30" separated and ~30 degrees difference in PA.  CD is about another 30 degrees in difference in PA, but much tougher since it's considerably fainter and half the separation ~15".  It emerges from bright A with seeing.  BU 1306 CD is not possible, 13.6/14.0 1.9", and uncertain if it's physical.  All the other pairs are not physical!

POU5518B,CD: 21H 49M 26.61S +23° 34' 18.3" P.A. 208 SEP 17.5 MAG 13.20,13.00

BU 1306AB 21H 49M 28.58S +23° 34' 02.1" P.A. 302 SEP 32 MAG 8.43,13.20 SP K0
BU 1306A,CD 21H 49M 28.58S +23° 34' 02.1" P.A. 272 SEP 34.5 MAG 8.43,13.40 SP K0 

COU 135 AB: 508; 205x: Faint wide secondary.  Not physical. 

21H 49M 30.62S +22° 01' 49.5" P.A. 302 SEP 9.2 MAG 11.74,12.50

ES 523 AB: 508; 205x: Near equal well separated.  Physical.
21H 53M 40.52S +27° 01' 44.2" P.A. 95 SEP 6.2 MAG 10.90,11.12

BU 1144 BC: 508; 667x:  Eta Peg. A is brilliant, BC easily seen in its glow and at 667x I detect it's PA as perpendicular to the PA of two two other fainter stars further out which all together form a V shape.  This is a detection of elongation in the BC pair which is 0.2".  There are 11 stars in the system, 

22H 42M 57.46S +30° 14' 42.9" P.A. 74 SEP 0.2 MAG 10.60,10.60 SP G5

TDT3789 AB: 508; 1067x: notched elongation snowman, slight mag difference 
22H 55M 31.50S +26° 37' 01.7" P.A. 238 SEP 0.5 MAG 10.11,10.25

COU 240 AB: 508; 533x: Hairline split with 333x, wider with 533x, split with seeing and apodising  mask to clean up A's bright white significant delta mag
22H 56M 23.71S +22° 57' 21.2" P.A. 289 SEP 0.8 MAG 7.73,8.82 SP F0 DIST. 185.53 PC (605.2 L.Y.)

STF 2957 AB: Dull yellow stars, ~2 delta mag, wide.
22H 56M 23.64S +17° 27' 08.6" P.A. 224 SEP 4.6 MAG 9.20,10.88 SP K0 DIST. 34.15 PC (111.4 L.Y.)

STT 483 AB: 508; 333x: Elongation, very subtle notch.  Physical with 249 year period. 

22H 59M 11.82S +11° 43' 43.8" P.A. 31.9 SEP 0.43 MAG 6.11,7.27 SP A8III DIST. 94.34 PC (307.74 L.Y.)

BU 850 AB: 508; 205x: B is faint but not difficult, well separated, much brighter blue-white A.  Physical.

23H 00M 19.30S +14° 00' 03.1" P.A. 121 SEP 3.2 MAG 8.34,11.18 SP AM DIST. 166.11 PC (541.85 L.Y.)

time with the 6-inch

Saturday night I fixed the Hargreaves strut on my 6-inch, and also removed the counterbalance bar from the OTA -- it was causing more problems than it was fixing. I also re-polar aligned it, and the Argo was more accurate as a result. Progress.

The annoying thing is still needing to manually slew. I am spoiled by Goto. Still and all, wonderful star images in mediocre seeing.

Seeing the Burnham pairs with my 6-inch makes me think I could make a project of re-observing all the ones he discovered with his 6-inch, to test myself against the master.  Will need to find a list...

STF 2878 AB: 152; 175x: Very close split, ~1 delta mag, very nice.
22H 14M 29.18S +07° 58' 34.2" P.A. 116 SEP 1.6 MAG 6.94,8.11 SP B9IV DIST. 224.22 PC (731.41 L.Y.)

STT 483 AB: 152; 285x 52 Peg.  Snowman/notched but not split.  I'll need the 20-inch for this one.

22H 59M 11.82S +11° 43' 43.8" P.A. 31.9 SEP 0.43 MAG 6.11,7.27 SP A8III DIST. 94.34 PC (307.74 L.Y.)

STF 2958 AB: 152; 175x: Very fine, wide separation, ~3 delta mag, white A and blue B.  Physical

22H 56M 51.47S +11° 50' 54.0" P.A. 15 SEP 4 MAG 6.63,9.09 SP A3VS DIST. 98.81 PC (322.32 L.Y.)

BU 701 AB: 152; 175x: Extremely fine, B appears with seeing on A's diffraction ring, ~1", a very fine point.   Burnham discovered with 18.5-inch, at 1.24", and it has narrowed since then.

22H 28M 07.24S +12° 14' 55.5" P.A. 176.1 SEP 1 MAG 7.34,9.62 SP K0V DIST. 66.4 PC (216.6 L.Y.)

I ended the night with a fine view of Mars, using 285x and a light red filter.  I also used my Planetary filter which gives the most natural color, but seems not as good for detail.  Small southern polar cap, and plenty of rocky mountain color shading, and some yellowish discoloration along the edge.

pinnacles midweek

 I had a gap in my work schedule Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning, and with the weather clear and dry took a drive down to Pinnacles for some deep sky.  It's the first trip since I can't remember when.  I took my 10-inch Springsonian, 80mm box scope, and 7x42 binoculars.  

On approaching Salinas I noticed a cloudy southern horizon, and soon realized there was smoke.  There was none in the satellite image I checked around noon, just some Creek Fire smoke but that was blowing south.  It turns out firefighters started some break fires in the mid afternoon and the high pressure was sending the smoke west and north.  I wondered if I should turn back, but my bet was the line of smoke would remain south of Pinnacles.  Fortunately this turned out to be the case, though the transparency was compromised and light scattered off the smoke.  SQML didn't make it above 21.0, a bad reading for the site.  But I made the most of what I could.  Seeing was variable, and there were times of hot and cold breezes through the night.

I was the only one there.  A camper arrived at dusk but I had to redirect him to the east entrance.  This seems to happen every time. 

I had no particular plan so I tried to browse the brighter, larger objects.  I used the Pocket Sky Atlas and it is well matched for a 10-inch scope and the scale is large enough to help me find things.  I scanned the Milky Way, of course, hitting the highlights -- though all the horizon views were compromised.  I used the 80mm box scope in the same area, and while the field of view is really large, about 7-8 degrees, the scope itself is too awkward to use.  I was better off with binoculars.  

Barnard's E shown but not particularly well, and the amazing rich star fields of Sagitta, with the glow of M71 in the middle.  The Coathanger, and NGC 6802 at one tip as a pretty large swirl of stars -- almost like a whirlpool galaxy.  Had a nice long look at the Veil Nebula, which showed pretty well at zenith.

I looked at M31 both when it was lower and when it was near zenith.  Of course the former was the better view, as I could see near and far dust lanes, and the twists at either end of the halo.  The halo was huge in the binoculars, almost reaching the 7 degree field.  I thought I could see the greyness of the IFN to the south of M31 in the 10-inch, but I'm uncertain of the specific location.  M33 was nice, and I only got some hints of the arms.  I caught the peripheral galaxies NGC 278, 185, and 147 too.  The blue snowball NGC 7662 was a small non-stellar blue disk.    Open cluster NGC 752 didn't impress me as much as I remember seeing it years ago with the 12.5-inch, maybe I needed more magnification.  

I was really impressed with the wealth and density of stars in western Cassiopeia.  There's no major feature here to make one point their scope in this area, but the dim and similar magnitude stars are fairly evenly spread and rich.  

Once the Pleiades were up I had a nice look, the bright stars foggy with nebulosity.  M1 the crab nebula looked like a slightly smaller version of M33.  Checked out NGC 1449 the California Nebula, which seemed less bright & detailed than I remember, likely due to the unfavorable sky.  The IC 405 the Flaming Star nebula, and the string of stars in the lower center of Auriga.  I could just fit M38, M36, and M35 in the same field with the binoculars, and it was an easy sweep to M35 -- which showed the smaller cluster NGC 2158 in the scope.  

Mars was up but I didn't look, though I did find both Uranus and Neptune.  So that plus Jupiter & Saturn, and the earth, was 6 of 8 of the planets -- Venus I saw in the early morning, so the only one missing was Mercury.

I watched Orion rise from behind trees, and even watched M42 through the branches.  Even with the smoky horizon it looked good.  The Hoarsehead and Flame nebulas looked dim, though I could see them.  M42 is really huge in the 10-inch, and fills the whole field.  

I felt tired at this point so I packed up to sleep.  I woke about an hour before dawn and decided to go about out to observe.  Orion was near zenith but the views were not noticeably better.  As it grew lighter I found that the smoke had started to encroach the zenith.

It was a nice time out and I'm glad I went out, since now two days later the smoke has spread across the state, likely killing any chance to go out this weekend.

I do feel a bit limited with the 10-inch; while there is a lot to see and I should probably just be more patient, I do wish for more aperture to have an easier time and to go after more targets.  Whether that's in my future I don't know.

13 october 2020

Observed last night from 8:30 to 11pm, and only logged a dozen items or so.  Feels like I should have logged more.  I had some pointing accuracy issues with the Argo, and I felt more tired than usual, so it probably explains the slow pace.  There were a number of challenging pairs, and I do spend more time now changing eyepieces to find the minimum magnification to split.  Seeing was worse than forecasted, probably 6-7/10 when I was expecting >8.  I used 20-inch with the apodising mask on throughout.  And transparency was also less than ideal.  Still a nice night out.

HO 151 AB: 508; 205x Very fine pair, ~1.5", ~1 delta mag, nicely split white stars
21H 10M 55.45S +03° 51' 55.3" P.A. 17 SEP 1.6 MAG 9.67,10.02 SP F8

BRT2189 AB: 508; 205x: Well separated white stars, B seems ~1 delta mag.  Not physical, seems many of the BRT pairs are not.
21H 11M 55.84S +07° 09' 38.2" P.A. 273 SEP 6.5 MAG 10.40,11.40

BU 1501 AB: 508; 333x: Very fine faint pair, light orange stars, suspected with 205x, split nicely with 333x, ~1 delta mag.  Nice. 

21H 13M 07.66S +10° 27' 51.0" P.A. 211 SEP 1.1 MAG 10.96,11.27 SP F8

HEI 406 AB: 508; 533x: Split with seeing, faint pair, noticeable delta mag.  3/5 transparency hindering the observation.   
21H 14M 14.11S +12° 30' 34.6" P.A. 179 SEP 0.7 MAG 11.50,11.70

STT 535 AB: Del Equ. Attempted but not seen, 0.09" now, just recording this for future reference since it is at periastron, will separate to detectability in January 2023 - December 2024

21H 14M 28.81S +10° 00' 25.1" P.A. 200 SEP 0.31 MAG 5.19,5.52 SP F6V+F6V DIST. 18.49 PC (60.31 L.Y.)

BU 682 AB: 508; 205x: Bright light orange A, B is the finest, faintest point separated from A, emerges to view at best focus.  Burnham discovered with the 18.5-inch Dearborn refractor.

21H 14M 30.98S +04° 41' 22.9" P.A. 102 SEP 5.7 MAG 7.69,12.20 SP K4III DIST. 423.73 PC (1382.21 L.Y.)

BU 838 AB: 508; 205x: A is white, B is very lightly orange, very close >1", ~2 delta mag, nice pair.  Physical with a 1280 year period.  Burnham discovered with the 15.5-inch Washburn refractor at 1.29"
21H 20M 55.78S +03° 07' 05.6" P.A. 156.2 SEP 1.67 MAG 7.92,10.02 SP F8 DIST. 70.97 PC (231.5 L.Y.)

STT 435 AB: 508; 333x: Clean split, near equal, light orange stars.
21H 21M 23.70S +02° 53' 14.6" P.A. 239 SEP 0.7 MAG 8.31,8.20 SP K0 DIST. 198.81 PC (648.52 L.Y.)

HU 275 AB: 508; 667x: ! Suspected at 533x, hairline split 667x, light orange stars, near equal.  

21H 22M 28.64S +08° 27' 16.1" P.A. 56 SEP 0.4 MAG 9.46,9.54 SP K0 DIST. 418.41 PC (1364.85 L.Y.)

ALD 76 AB: 205x: ! Nice near equal stars, nicely separated outside the glow of a very bright white star.  Sadly not physical.
21H 22M 52.26S +06° 43' 56.6" P.A. 66 SEP 3 MAG 11.40,11.50

STF 2791 AB: 508; 205x: White stars, nicely separated ~3", ~1 delta mag.
21H 23M 43.59S +04° 21' 54.2" P.A. 104 SEP 2.9 MAG 8.92,9.28 SP F0 DIST. 220.75 PC (720.09 L.Y.)

BRT 1356 AB: 508; 205x: Nice pairing of ~2 delta mag stars, pretty wide.  Not physical
21H 23M 36.82S +10° 29' 39.6" P.A. 63 SEP 5.7 MAG 9.84,11.70 SP F5

TDT 2946 AB: 508; 533x: B appears much much fainter than the TDT data, ~1 one delta mag rather than 0.3, B is split within A's faint diffraction.   
21H 24M 26.28S +07° 39' 41.5" P.A. 54 SEP 0.4 MAG 10.33,10.60

BU 1217 AB: 508; 1067x: The best I get is a subtly notched elongation snowman through all powers. light orange stars.  Burnham discovered in 1890 at 0.61" with the Lick 36-inch, and says "A difficult pair, and therefore the change in angle requires verification."
22H 21M 01.80S +31° 18' 35.5" P.A. 219 SEP 0.3 MAG 7.91,9.48 SP K0 DIST. 206.19 PC (672.59 L.Y.)

HO 474 BC: 508; 205x: A is KX Peg, a bright light orange star.  The BC pair is very much fainter at edge of A's glow, the pair brightens with averted vision and shows itself to be double, half delta mag, wide ~4".  Very good catch, bluish stars.

22H 22M 35.97S +30° 21' 12.4" P.A. 14 SEP 2.7 MAG 12.00,12.20 DIST. 127.88 PC (417.14 L.Y.)

STF 2900 AB: 508; 533x: 33 Peg A is bright yellow and B is orange.  SkyTools data said 0.4" but it seems closer to 1" [this is correct / the current data], very large delta mag.  AB is physical with at 407 year period but will widen by 1" over the next 27 years.  CD is COU 139 and appears as a notched elongation at best moments all powers, though the clearest view is at 667x, noticeable magnitude difference.  

STF 2900 AB: 22H 23M 39.56S +20° 50' 54.0" P.A. 180.9 SEP 1.03 MAG 6.28,9.18 SP F7IV DIST. 33.7 PC (109.93 L.Y.)

COU 139 CD: 22H 23M 34.54S +20° 51' 48.5" P.A. 88 SEP 0.4 MAG 8.54,10.70 SP F0 DIST. 156.74 PC (511.29 L.Y.)

 

12 october 2020

Seeing last night was mediocre, and transparency was only a little better than average.  Nevertheless it was a good session.  I observed from 9-11pm, with the 8-inch mask on throughout.  Seeing at 205x was fine, but it sometimes affected 333x too -- though when it settled the star images were sharp.  Perfect optics.  I toured around in the northern part of the sky.

STF 2863 AB; 203; 205x:  Alkurhah.  Pretty very light yellow bright A star, and ~2 delta mag, very light orange B, wide.  Physical pair with a 3800 year period.  
22H 03M 47.45S +64° 37' 40.7" P.A. 273.5 SEP 8.44 MAG 4.45,6.40 SP A3M DIST. 29.59 PC (96.52 L.Y.)

STT 461 AB: 203; 205x: 15 Cep. At the end of a mini coat hanger asterism, and in fact there are 7 pairs in the system (likely not physical, maybe a small cluster).  A is white and B is very much fainter but seen with direct vision, wide. 

22H 03M 53.86S +59° 48' 52.5" P.A. 297 SEP 11.1 MAG 6.66,11.40 SP B1V DIST. 450.45 PC (1469.37 L.Y.) 

ES 103 AB: 203; 205x: Delicate pair at this magnification, white stars, half delta, very close a little more than 1".  Very attractive
22H 05M 28.85S +54° 22' 38.1" P.A. 211 SEP 1.8 MAG 9.72,10.41 SP A0

STF 2870 AB: 203; 205x: Easy pair, >1 delta mag, wide.  An arrow asterism points to it.
22H 08M 00.45S +61° 07' 22.0" P.A. 271 SEP 5.8 MAG 8.85,9.64 SP B9 DIST. 980.39 PC (3198.03 L.Y.)

STF 2879 AB: 203; 205x: V447 Cep  ! Excellent pair, seen at small scale at this magnification.  Nice clean split, half delta mag, really pretty.  A is variable 7.26 - 7.62 V over a period of 7.52655 days, but there is a lack of recent observations on AAVSO.  If it were near maximum it might be more difficult to resolve the split at small aperture.  I also pick up a very faint white star the averted vision, widely separated -- this is AC, 7.99/11.91 29.2.  FYM 192 AD, mag 12.98, not seen
22H 10M 59.56S +63° 23' 58.5" P.A. 233 SEP 0.7 MAG 7.99,8.26 SP B5 DIST. 943.4 PC (3077.37 L.Y.)

A 625 AB: 203; 333x: Faint stars, hairline split with seeing, light orange color, noticeable magnitude difference, tough.
22H 11M 44.77S +57° 42' 58.1" P.A. 79 SEP 0.5 MAG 9.55,9.37 SP A2

STF2880 AB: 203; 205x: Light yellow-orange stars, B is a duller orange, well separated, ~3 delta.  Not physical 
22H 11M 48.22S +59° 43' 15.1" P.A. 354 SEP 4.2 MAG 7.43,9.30 SP G8II

BU 376 AB: 203; 205x: Remarkable, very light orange A star and B appears with averted vision, and then I can hold it direct after foveal coaxing.  ~4".  Nice.  Burnham discovered in his 6-inch at 3.57", it hasn't substantially moved -- testament to his scope, vision, and darker skies.
22H 12M 02.66S +60° 05' 25.7" P.A. 149 SEP 3.8 MAG 7.98,11.20 SP K5

STF 2884 AB: 203; 205x: White pair, significant ~2 delta mag, ~3" separation, nice pair
22H 12M 13.02S +63° 44' 19.4" P.A. 143 SEP 2.2 MAG 8.03,9.58 SP B9IV

A 626 AB: 203; 205x: Very fine hairline split with seeing, white stars, half delta mag. 
22H 12M 44.62S +60° 13' 05.3" P.A. 109 SEP 0.9 MAG 9.52,9.65 SP G0

FOX 265 AB: 203; 205x: ~2 delta mag, pretty wide, unremarkable, but physical, even though they're 1200 light years away
22H 14M 16.14S +61° 55' 13.7" P.A. 176 SEP 5.5 MAG 8.88,10.31 SP A0 DIST. 367.65 PC (1199.27 L.Y.)

STF 2903 AB: 203; 205x: Bright white stars, ~1 delta, wide
22H 21M 45.20S +66° 42' 22.6" P.A. 97 SEP 4.1 MAG 7.13,7.80 SP A7V+G0III DIST. 268.82 PC (876.89 L.Y.)

STT 473 AB: 203;205x: Nice contrast of bright white A star with a not too wide faint pair.  Not physical
22H 30M 18.70S +57° 13' 31.6" P.A. 359 SEP 14.6 MAG 6.74,10.48 SP A3IA DIST. 1960.78 PC (6396.06 L.Y.)

HU 981 AB: 203; 667x: Notched elongation with 333x & 667x.  Slight mag difference.  Need more aperture (934 year period, 0.29" now!)
22H 30M 32.63S +61° 37' 25.6" P.A. 213.1 SEP 0.29 MAG 7.61,7.90 SP B8V DIST. 724.64 PC (2363.78 L.Y.)

STF 2977 AB: 203; 205x: ! Wow very nice.  Split with seeing, bright white A settles to round and B appears as a blue disk just outside A's diffraction, light blue color, really a treat.  Physical 
23H 06M 28.56S +61° 26' 24.5" P.A. 355 SEP 1.8 MAG 6.80,10.33 SP F5V DIST. 112.99 PC (368.57 L.Y.)

BU 180 AB: 203; 533x: Snowman through 533x.  Just too much of a delta mag.  Burnham discovered with his 6-inch at 0.57"!  Physical, 537 year period. 
23H 07M 09.99S +60° 49' 57.1" P.A. 130.8 SEP 0.51 MAG 7.95,9.23 SP A5IV DIST. 255.75 PC (834.26 L.Y.)

STF3001 AB: 203; 205x: A is bright yellow, B dull yellow, ~3 delta mag and ~3 separation, a striking pair.  Physical, 1505 year period.
23H 18M 37.41S +68° 06' 41.1" P.A. 223.4 SEP 3.38 MAG 4.97,7.28 SP G8III DIST. 62.27 PC (203.12 L.Y.)

STT 502 AB: 203; 205x: B is very delicate compared bright white A,  ~4" and ~4 delta mag. Very nice.  Physical.

23H 39M 52.92S +63° 43' 31.6" P.A. 226 SEP 3.6 MAG 6.89,10.64 SP A3V DIST. 110.99 PC (362.05 L.Y.)

STF 3004 AB: 203; 205x: Easy white and blue stars, wide
23H 20M 44.10S +44° 06' 58.2" P.A. 178 SEP 13.6 MAG 6.26,10.13 SP A5VN DIST. 75.24 PC (245.43 L.Y.)

STF 3034 AB: 203; 205x: V395 And.  White, wide, ~2 delta mag. 
23H 44M 32.14S +46° 22' 48.6" P.A. 103 SEP 5.6 MAG 7.68,9.86 SP B8V DIST. 267.38 PC (872.19 L.Y.)

STT 499 A-BC: 203; 205x: Very light orange-yellow A and light blue B, wide, two delta.  Physical.  BC is A 641, 9.7/11.5, 0.3", not seen
23H 33M 12.21S +57° 24' 28.5" P.A. 77 SEP 9.7 MAG 7.55,9.54 SP G5 DIST. 106.95 PC (348.87 L.Y.)

A 642 AB: 203; 205x: Notched elongation through 533x.  Physical pair. 
23H 37M 53.77S +58° 05' 43.4" P.A. 27 SEP 0.8 MAG 8.86,10.16 SP F0 DIST. 371.75 PC (1212.65 L.Y.)

STF 3037 AB: 203; 205x: Fine pair, ~1 delta mag, fairly wide, light yellow stars
23H 46M 08.04S +60° 28' 23.4" P.A. 212 SEP 2.7 MAG 7.35,9.20 SP K0 DIST. 361.01 PC (1177.61 L.Y.)

STF3038 AB: 203; 205x: Very fine pair, near equal, near bright star, wide ~5".  Not physical
23H 46M 11.11S +62° 40' 05.0" P.A. 275 SEP 4.4 MAG 10.06,10.09 SP M1IAB+OB

STT 507 AB: 203; 333x: Snowman at 205x, hairline split with 333x, A is a soft white and B is light blue, ~1 delta mag.  Physical with 565 year period.

23H 48M 39.03S +64° 52' 35.3" P.A. 319.5 SEP 0.7 MAG 6.76,7.76 SP A0P DIST. 168.63 PC (550.07 L.Y.)

11 october 2020

Last night was good, if somewhat disappointing of a session.  Transparency was very good, such a difference with past weeks with many more stars visible in the sky, making for good binocular scanning.  Seeing, on the other hand, was middling, about 5-6/10, so I kept magnifications rather low and the apodising mask on the 20-inch the whole time.  I felt tired (went to Agate beach during the day) so I did not stay out past 11pm, though the seeing was forecasted to improve.  Fairly heavy dew, as is normal this time of year.  Ended the night with a view of Mars.

SHJ 1721 AB: 508; 205x: OX Peg. A surprisingly pretty pair, light orange A and light blue B, ~2 delta mag, wide.  The A star is spectral class M (red).  There's a fine near equal double in the same field, J 1225.

22H 05M 44.53S +29° 54' 23.3" P.A. 265 SEP 12.8 MAG 7.94,9.41 SP M DIST. 900.9 PC (2938.74 L.Y.)

J 1225 AB: 508; 205x: Fine near equal faint stars, about 11th magnitude, ~3" separated.  In same field as SHJ 1721.  
22H 05M 55.42S +29° 51' 16.9" P.A. 115 SEP 3.2 MAG 11.51,11.39

COU 435 AB: 508; 333x: Quite difficult, when A settles, B appears as a very fine point just outside A's first diffraction, noticed with averted vision. 
22H 06M 20.04S +26° 56' 13.2" P.A. 12 SEP 1.5 MAG 8.65,11.50 SP F5

MLB 579 AB: 508; 205x: B is considerably fainter than A and was noticed with averted vision, and could the hold direct with foveal coaxing.  Faint, wide, and not physical
22H 07M 02.79S +27° 35' 32.6" P.A. 21 SEP 8.3 MAG 11.12,13.00

HO 641 AB: 508; 205x: Easy wide ~10" and ~3 delta mag, why suspect double? 
22H 10M 07.38S +32° 20' 34.0" P.A. 174 SEP 9.9 MAG 8.11,12.30 SP K0

AG 280 AB: 508; 205x: A is a very light yellow color and B a light blue, wide, half delta mag.  Pretty, subtle colors.  Physical
22H 10M 24.99S +31° 40' 30.0" P.A. 180 SEP 11.2 MAG 9.81,10.30 SP G5

HO 178 AB: 508; 205x: ! Wow this is a good one.  A is a blazing white and just beyond its glow is a very faint point of the B star, such a contrast in the magnitudes.  ~4" and ~4 delta mag. 
22H 11M 28.36S +32° 05' 09.9" P.A. 223 SEP 3.4 MAG 7.40,11.16 SP F0 DIST. 121.8 PC (397.31 L.Y.)

HO 289 BC: 508; 333x: BC seen with 205x, but much easier view with 333x.  They are a tight blue, faint pair, well separated from bright light orange A, PA is in a line away from the a star.  Surprisingly it is not physical.

22H 11M 33.83S +27° 16' 28.1" P.A. 324 SEP 3.1 MAG 11.80,12.10

A 1228 AB: 508; 205x: ~2 delta mag well separated pair ~4", in a triangle of similar magnitude stars

22H 11M 39.47S +31° 48' 44.1" P.A. 350 SEP 3.8 MAG 9.60,11.40 SP G5

HO 179 AB: 508; 333x: Yellow-white stars, ~1 delta mag, well split <1" 
22H 12M 37.85S +30° 12' 34.3" P.A. 282 SEP 1 MAG 8.64,9.41 SP F5

ES 388 AB: 508; 205x: Easy wide ~1 delta mag white stars.  Not physical 

22H 13M 16.57S +32° 08' 25.8" P.A. 263 SEP 7.9 MAG 10.05,10.60

TDT3410 AB: 508; 205x: Very interesting, near a bright tar and I saw it plainly at low power 205x, but wanted higher power confirmation.  At 333x it kind of disappeared but with 533x it is back, more than 1 delta mag, very faint, <1".  There is a brighter star nearby which distracts and maybe is why not discovered before.  [This one is also a fast mover, 0.7" at 1991 discovery and 0.4" at 2009 measure -- I wonder if there's a difference in measurement methodologies which causes the difference?]

22H 13M 26.46S +31° 23' 10.5" P.A. 200 SEP 0.4 MAG 10.24,11.04

BU 476 AB: 508; 205x: Easy white stars, slight magnitude difference, well separated [Burnham discovered in 1877 with his 6-inch, and noted BU 477 is in the same low power field -- I did not notice it, maybe not using low enough power.]
22H 14M 06.05S +31° 24' 06.1" P.A. 93 SEP 2.8 MAG 9.50,9.82 SP A2

STF2881 AB: 508; 205x: Close white stars, ~1 delta mag, >1", nice
22H 14M 34.67S +29° 34' 20.6" P.A. 76 SEP 1.3 MAG 7.65,8.24 SP F6III DIST. 171.53 PC (559.53 L.Y.)

BU 477 AB: 508; 205x: Easy wide pair, ~1 delta mag.  Physical. [Discovered in 1877 with his 6-inch, in the same low power field as BU 476.]

22H 15M 54.66S +31° 25' 09.1" P.A. 41 SEP 6.6 MAG 9.50,10.34 SP F5

STF 2889 AB: 508; 205x: Very fine pair, light yellow stars, ~2" separation ~2 delta mag.
22H 16M 19.71S +26° 16' 15.8" P.A. 198 SEP 2.3 MAG 8.49,10.15 SP K0III DIST. 377.36 PC (1230.95 L.Y.)

BU 1216 AB: 508; 333x: White stars, nicely split, noticeable delta mag.  Physical with 503 year period.  Discovered in 1890 with the 16-inch of the Warner Observatory at 0.6"
22H 20M 12.75S +29° 31' 07.8" P.A. 276.7 SEP 0.89 MAG 8.61,9.21 SP F5 DIST. 113.25 PC (369.42 L.Y.)

HO 615 BC: 508; 533x: BC suspected at 205x, seen with 333x, seen best with 533x. Very faint star compared with brilliant white A, there are several faint stars surrounding A like debris from an explosion.  BC is a close pair ~3", ~1 delta mag, and forms an arc with a third faint star.
22H 21M 23.56S +28° 19' 05.4" P.A. 17 SEP 3.1 MAG 10.73,12.40 SP F2V

4 october 2020

Out last night with the 20-inch.  Transparency started out very good, with a fortunate on-shore breeze to keep the wildfire smoke out of the sky.  Seeing wasn't quite as good as forecast, but serviceable -- it was good up to about 533x, so I chose to keep full aperture, but observed most of the time with the apodising mask.  With it getting dark so early now I observed from about 8:30pm to 11:30pm -- I was feeling tired and a marine haze was building.

STF 2379 AC: 508; 205x: I had strong visual color response, though the disks were somewhat bloated with seeing: A was blue-white, B was yellow-white, and C red-orange.  Colors were the same at 100x but the disks smaller.  With an 8-inch mask at 205x, the disks were tight and overall everything was fainter.  C was less red, more grey, and much fainter, so the color was not so strong and maybe would not be described as orange.

18H 46M 28.58S -00° 57' 41.9" P.A. 156 SEP 21.8 MAG 5.88,11.30 SP A2V

HDS2753 Aa-Ab: 508; 1067x: Component of STFA 41.  Snowman at all powers through 1067x, but it should really separate if 0.4".  Seeing is not up to the task, or the delta mag is too large.

19H 24M 22.08S +16° 56' 15.9" P.A. 138 SEP 0.4 MAG 6.32,10.31 SP A2III-IV DIST. 112.11 PC (365.7 L.Y.)

BOW 6 AB: 508; 205x: Nothing special, ~1 delta mag wide.  Not physical.  [W.M. Bowyer

19H 26M 32.98S +18° 37' 14.1" P.A. 309 SEP 7.2 MAG 10.80,12.50

BOW 7 AB: 508; 205x: Unremarkable wide pair, half delta mag.
19H 26M 25.50S +18° 38' 38.1" P.A. 251 SEP 9.6 MAG 10.38,11.00 SP F5

STF 2529 AB: 508; 205x: Dull yellow-white A and deeper orange yellow b, two delta, wide.  Not physical. 
19H 28M 04.99S +17° 38' 54.0" P.A. 298 SEP 6.7 MAG 8.62,10.15 SP K0

HU 340 AB: 508; 205x: Very finely split even at 205x, noticeable magnitude difference, slightly orange stars.  Something flew through the FOV during the observation, I thought it was a plane I see no lights,  maybe it was a goose?  No sounds 
19H 28M 21.65S +18° 29' 04.4" P.A. 118 SEP 0.9 MAG 9.80,10.26 SP F5

AG 231 AB: 508; 205x: Near equal pair, white, wide.  Physical
19H 29M 34.45S +17° 59' 46.9" P.A. 239 SEP 4.5 MAG 9.93,10.05 SP F8

J 137 AB: 508; 205x: Faint B ~5", ~2 delta.  Not physical
19H 30M 01.65S +18° 25' 55.8" P.A. 18 SEP 4.5 MAG 9.73,12.00 SP K0

STF 2536 AB: 508; 205x: Blue-white A and much fainter ~3 delta B, split close, dull orange color. Very fine.  Physical with 672.5 year period. 
19H 31M 37.80S +17° 46' 58.6" P.A. 126.7 SEP 1.7 MAG 8.40,11.38 SP G2V DIST. 50.1 PC (163.43 L.Y.)

GCB 43 AB: 508; 205x: Very faint pair, ~2 delta B is on the edge of direct vision, wide ~5", probably not physical.  M. Giacobini
19H 34M 18.03S +18° 40' 19.9" P.A. 264 SEP 7.5 MAG 9.95,11.90 SP A2

STT 375 AB: 508; 533x: Snowman at 205x, 333x, split with 533x, >1 delta mag, ~0.5".  A is orange-yellow and B is blue-white.  Physical with 682 year period, just coming apastron now.
19H 34M 37.45S +18° 07' 41.2" P.A. 188.8 SEP 0.6 MAG 7.72,8.88 SP G5 DIST. 233.64 PC (762.13 L.Y.)

HO 274 AB: 508; 205x: White A, B is quite faint but resolved, ~4", delicate looking.  Not physical.

19H 34M 55.37S +16° 27' 04.1" P.A. 71 SEP 3.9 MAG 8.34,11.10 SP F

BU 149 BC: 508; 205x: B seen easily, C is noticed with averted vision and then can direct.  Not physical.
19H 58M 05.54S +16° 29' 55.2" P.A. 202 SEP 8.1 MAG 10.33,12.90

COU 325 AB: 508; 205x: Very finely split with 333x, large delta mag, delicate pair
20H 04M 22.33S +17° 14' 33.0" P.A. 227 SEP 0.8 MAG 9.36,10.90 SP F5

J 1168 AB: 508; 333x: Very fine split, ~1 delta, <1", nice
20H 08M 12.46S +21° 06' 11.2" P.A. 192 SEP 0.9 MAG 10.09,10.73 SP F2 DIST. 454.55 PC (1482.74 L.Y.)

ROE 101 AB: 508; 205x: Unremarkable wide ~2 delta.  Not physical
20H 15M 36.94S +19° 58' 29.5" P.A. 53 SEP 12.7 MAG 8.38,9.60 SP G8III

COU 219 Aa-AB: 508; 667x: Nice split with seeing, ~1 delta mag, ~0.5".  A component of J 2308.

20H 17M 44.53S +20° 25' 23.0" P.A. 109 SEP 0.4 MAG 8.50,9.80 SP K2

HU 357 AB: 508; 205x: Blue-white A, B is very fine but nicely split, also bluish but much fainter.  Physical.
20H 18M 14.41S +18° 19' 41.5" P.A. 195 SEP 1.8 MAG 7.98,10.94 SP A3III DIST. 167.79 PC (547.33 L.Y.)

HU 359 AB: 508; 1067x: Elongation at 667x & 1067x, need best focus and seeing.
20H 20M 02.08S +18° 48' 19.8" P.A. 215 SEP 0.2 MAG 10.10,10.10 SP F2

STT 444 AB: 508; 205x: Easy pair, bright white A and three delta mag wide B.
21H 39M 04.16S +20° 36' 05.7" P.A. 277 SEP 8 MAG 8.06,11.19 SP F5 DIST. 303.95 PC (991.48 L.Y.)

AG 274 AB: 508; 205x: Easy, half delta mag, wide.  Physical

21H 39M 34.26S +23° 21' 35.1" P.A. 153 SEP 9.2 MAG 9.66,10.50 SP F8

LBU Aa-Ab: 508; 667x: Component of STF2818.  I have the sense of a star at about the correct  separation, it was round and did not look like a flare, seen only when A's diffraction settled to completely round, though it is glimpsed one once over a couple of minutes.  A is light orange.   This faint close B seems a little less than ninety degrees PA difference than the AB pair (Aa-Ab is 42 deg. 1985 measure, AB is 24 last measure 2015.  Last measure was the discovery 35 years ago, it needs another measure to see any movement.  It may have closed and not be detectable.  Difficult even with 1067x.  [J. Le Beau, however I can't find the original discovery publication.] 

HU 374 AB: 508; 1067x: Slightly notched elongation at 667x, strongly notched snowman at 1067x. Wants to split but wont.  It's listed as equal magnitude but it's my impression they are not, there's a noticeable magnitude difference, probably half a mag delta.  Physical with 130 year period, it is approaching apastron but will not make appreciable change in my time.  I made a sketched, and discovered how to disable tracking via SkyTools so I could better tell position angle. 

21H 43M 25.99S +23° 53' 05.4" P.A. 44.8 SEP 0.27 MAG 9.40,9.40 SP F5 DIST. 7142.86 PC (23300.01 L.Y.)

HO 467 AB: 508; 205x: Fine pair, bright white A and ~2 delta dull yellow B, close ~1".

21H 50M 37.14S +22° 15' 31.0" P.A. 221 SEP 2.6 MAG 8.10,10.30 SP K2