7 december 2020

Seeing last night was particularly poor, with high winds in the upper atmosphere.  Transparency was good, and while it was cold there was no dew.  I didn't have high expectations so I used my 8-inch mask and low power (for me) 121x.  All the same it was an excellent session with some surprising pairs.  I observed from 9pm to a little after 11pm.

Two nights ago I finally ran a TPAS (or "super calibration") on my Argo Navis.  I only got to about 130 stars, and I hoped I did it correctly -- and it took a long time, about five hours.  I could tell during last night's session the pointing accuracy was much improved, especially correcting an error in declination which had been plaguing me.  So I'm quite happy.  I will probably redo it sometime soon, since now that I know what to do I hope to be more efficient.

STT 55 AB: 203; 121x: Bright white A and a tiny fleck of star for B, well separated and large delta mag.  Not physical

03H 29M 26.28S +46° 56' 16.3" P.A. 295 SEP 31.1 MAG 6.23,11.39 SP B7V DIST. 195.31 PC (637.1 L.Y.)

ES 2599 AB: 203; 121x: Wide equal white pair of 9th magnitude stars, physical.  Aa-Ab is a close Cocteau pair I could try with my 20-inch on a better night.
03H 29M 46.98S +50° 01' 05.1" P.A. 299 SEP 19.2 MAG 9.97,10.18 SP F2

HLD 8 AB: 203; 121x: Fine pair, slight magnitude difference, nicely split ~3", appears closely split at this magnification 
03H 30M 34.67S +49° 47' 21.2" P.A. 177 SEP 2.4 MAG 9.42,9.79 SP F0

ES 560 AB: 203; 121x: A fine pair, white A and three delta mag dull B, wide.  Physical.  There appears to be a stream of faint stars to the side of this star in the field of view, and also visible in the finder -- this star is on the southern edge of open cluster Mel 20, so it is a rich area.
03H 33M 13.49S +46° 15' 26.5" P.A. 142 SEP 9.5 MAG 8.33,11.29 SP K2 DIST. 34.39 PC (112.18 L.Y.)

ES 561 AB: 203; 121x: Wide one delta mag white stars, nice.  Physical
03H 33M 33.18S +45° 45' 12.5" P.A. 39 SEP 8.1 MAG 9.09,10.35 SP G

SMA 37 AB: 203; 121x: Wide ~1 delta mag pair.  A has a fainter companion, closer by half of B's distance, slightly askew in PA -- this is the AC pair. 

03H 33M 52.18S +43° 51' 01.9" P.A. 288 SEP 31.6 MAG 9.50,10.78 SP A0

BU 787 AB: 203; 121x:  Very nice, white and very large delta mag B, but seen plainly with low magnification.  Physical, 655.8 year period.  

03H 34M 12.97S +48° 37' 02.9" P.A. 294.3 SEP 4.8 MAG 7.38,11.90 SP B9.5V DIST. 261.1 PC (851.71 L.Y.)

HU 102 AB: 203; 121x: Very fine, ~2 delta mag, very closely but well split ~3", very nice
03H 36M 42.80S +48° 39' 05.4" P.A. 64 SEP 3.2 MAG 9.70,11.10 SP A0

HLD 9 AB: 203; 121x: Faint, nearly 10th magnitude stars.  This pair is very tough this aperture and magnification, very finely hairline split, very noticeable delta magnitude.  A very faint ~10th magnitude tumbling satellite moved slowly through through the side of the FOV. 
03H 37M 43.01S +48° 07' 02.5" P.A. 55 SEP 1.3 MAG 9.56,9.81 SP F7IV/V DIST. 174.83 PC (570.3 L.Y.)

STT 59 AB: 203; 121x:  Sharp pair, A is a very light yellow-white, B is more yellow, nearly 2 delta mag, ~3", very nice
03H 40M 40.62S +46° 01' 24.1" P.A. 356 SEP 2.8 MAG 7.90,8.85 SP G5 DIST. 111.36 PC (363.26 L.Y.)

HU 103 AB: 203; 205x: Elongated with 121x, strongly notched overlapping disks with 205x, significant magnitude difference.  Seeing doesn't support higher powers. 

03H 45M 22.61S +49° 51' 42.4" P.A. 203 SEP 1.2 MAG 8.70,8.86 SP A0 DIST. 265.25 PC (865.25 L.Y.)

ES 465 AB: 203; 121x: Typical Espin, wide, ~1 delta mag.  Not physical
03H 45M 54.74S +50° 25' 09.2" P.A. 266 SEP 9.9 MAG 9.50,10.00 SP A5

STT 63 AB: 203; 121x: Very bright white A and very much fainter B, which appears direct vision with best focus and brightens with averted vision and foveal coaxing.  A challenge for this aperture. 
03H 48M 18.08S +50° 44' 12.4" P.A. 269 SEP 6.7 MAG 6.19,11.20 SP B8VNE DIST. 250.63 PC (817.56 L.Y.)

HU 209 AB: 203; 205x: Elongated to very fine small scale near equal snowman with 121x, elongated more with 205x, with hairline split at moments of best seeing, ~1 delta mag. 
03H 49M 13.09S +50° 23' 17.4" P.A. 106 SEP 1.4 MAG 9.29,10.38 SP G0

STF 446 AB: 203; 121x: ~2 delta mag, wide, nice pair
03H 49M 27.57S +52° 39' 19.4" P.A. 254 SEP 8.8 MAG 6.86,9.90 SP B0.5III DIST. 1098.9 PC (3584.61 L.Y.)

STF 462 AB: 203; 121x: Strikingly faint for a Struve, wide, ~1 delta mag. 
03H 55M 46.11S +52° 22' 07.6" P.A. 320 SEP 8.1 MAG 10.70,11.60 SP A0

KU 16 AB: 203; 121x: Wow!  Very fine pair, slight mag difference, faint ~10th magnitude, well split B resolves with seeing.
03H 56M 18.22S +51° 07' 58.7" P.A. 268 SEP 2.4 MAG 10.49,11.16 SP B8

STF 465 AB: 203; 121x: Off-white stars, >1 delta mag, pretty wide.  Physical
03H 56M 40.78S +47° 28' 59.9" P.A. 236 SEP 5.7 MAG 8.13,10.03 SP F5 DIST. 155.52 PC (507.31 L.Y.)

STF 469 AB: 203; 121x: White and slightly red B, wide, ~3 delta mag.
03H 57M 16.29S +41° 52' 50.3" P.A. 146 SEP 8.8 MAG 6.90,9.92 SP A2 DIST. 121.07 PC (394.93 L.Y.)

STF 471 AB: 203; 121x: Very bright white A, and B is far enough away and just the right blue-green color to look like a planet. 

03H 57M 51.22S +40° 00' 36.9" P.A. 10 SEP 9.1 MAG 2.85,8.88 SP B0.5V+A2V DIST. 195.69 PC (638.34 L.Y.)

ES 878 AB: 203; 121x: Light orange A, B is very faint, a fleck of light, well separated.
03H 58M 51.30S +51° 29' 56.5" P.A. 226 SEP 12.2 MAG 7.92,11.08 SP K2IB DIST. 2040.82 PC (6657.15 L.Y.)

STF 477 AB: 203; 121x: Very fine white pair, ~1 delta mag.  Very close but nicely separated white stars.  Not physical.

04H 02M 04.77S +41° 50' 56.7" P.A. 212 SEP 3.1 MAG 8.49,9.45 SP A2

HLD 10 AB: 203; 121: Wow! good one.  ~2 delta mag, ~4", very fine B.  Nice pair -- but not physical! 
04H 02M 27.53S +48° 23' 43.1" P.A. 91 SEP 4.2 MAG 9.44,10.80 SP F2 DIST. 289.02 PC (942.78 L.Y.)

ES 466 AB: 203; 121: A challenge with this aperture and magnification.  White A, B appears with averted vision only, well separated, just faint
04H 04M 08.38S +49° 48' 52.6" P.A. 54 SEP 4.3 MAG 9.46,12.48 SP A0 DIST. 293.26 PC (956.61 L.Y.)

STF 521 AB: 203; 205x: Very fine light yellow stars, ~2 delta mag, ~2", very nice looking pair.

04H 21M 45.39S +50° 02' 06.5" P.A. 257 SEP 2.1 MAG 7.44,9.17 SP G0 DIST. 813.01 PC (2652.04 L.Y.)