waiting for the seeing

For months now I have not had good enough seeing conditions to push the limits of my double star observing.  So I've mostly just masked down to 7-inches to try to make the most of it, but I've tapped out most of the other >1" 5-8th magnitude pairs in the spring sky.  When seeing might be good, marine haze would roll in and rob me of the views. Yesterday's forecast was for both good transparency and "excellent" seeing -- but only after 1am. So I waited for it. I let the scope cool starting at 5pm after the hot day, and since I've been having some pointing problems, ran a 30 star TPAS cycle with my Argo as soon as it got dark. Then, at 9:30pm, instead of continuing to observe I disengaged the drives and went inside. I napped a little, and got up at midnight to go back outside.

Now the spring constellations were nearly set and summer's were getting pretty high. Seeing was not quite great when I started, but per forecast by 1am it was good enough to start pushing limits. I have two lists for such occasions: a Short Period list of physical doubles with <80-year periods which I am trying to track over the next many years to try to detect change, and a "Sweet Spot" list, which are doubles of 8th-9th mag with very close separations which are well suited for splits with the 20-inch scope -- the stars are not too bright to cause too much diffraction but bright enough for airy disks to show. Most of the latter are physical but the periods are >80-years, so I may or may not notice change, but they are good for challenge pairs.

This morning I have the feeling of having come back from some great adventure, seeing things few have seen, a kind of glow from the experience about me. That could just be feeling overtired, but it's a good feeling to have.

KUI 66 AB: 178; 445x: Light orange-yellow A, when it settles with seeing there is a persistent very faint point within the shifting diffraction, <1", large delta mag.  There are 36 measures in the WDS since 1936 discovery, but the nature of the pair is uncertain because there is no parallax data for the secondary star.
14h 14m 50.85s +10° 06' 02.2" P.A. 111.00 sep 0.8 mag 5.44,8.43 Sp K1III dist. 81.23 pc (264.97 l.y.)

BU 612 AB: 508; 1067x: Lightest orange, notched elongation to snowman at best moments.  Burnham discovered in 1878 with the Dearborn 18.5-inch, and in 1899 wrote: "It was very soon apparent from the measures that this was a binary system in rapid motion.  In the twenty years covered by the measures, the companion has passed over an arc of 175-degrees.  Glasenapp…has computed an orbit from which he finds a period of 30.00 years....This represents the observations as well as could be desired, but evidently the arc was too short for any very accurate determination, and even now widely differing apparent orbits will satisfy the observed positions equally.  It is probably that the measures of the next ten years will furnish sufficient data for an orbit which shall substantially correct."  In the period since, there have been many measures, and a grade 1 Definitive orbit is established. WDS lists it as physical with a 22.46-year period, currently at 0.1 but will widen to 0.3" by 2030 -- I can hope for a clean split by then. 
13h 39m 34.68s +10° 44' 46.7" P.A. 49.20 sep 0.1 mag 6.35,6.47 Sp F1V dist. 59.99 pc (195.69 l.y.)

STT 269 AB: 508; 1067x: Strong notch, good star images, not quite split.  I saw it as a rod at 205x, and the notch increased in strength with each magnification step up.  PA to SW.  Physical with grade 2 orbit and 53.2-year period (having made nearly one revolution in my lifetime so far!), it is 0.297" now and is coming off apastron, it will rapidly close to undetectability by the late 2030s.
13h 32m 51.02s +34° 54' 25.8" P.A. 227.60 sep 0.3 mag 7.27,8.08 Sp A6III dist. 147.93 pc (482.55 l.y.)

HU 644 AB: 508; 533x: Quite perfect star images, light orange stars, nearly 2 delta mag, well separated, PA northwest.  Grade 2, physical, 48.776-year period.  It has a slightly out of round orbit from our perspective, near it's periastron now and will widen to an easy 1.584" by 2030.
13h 19m 45.58s +47° 46' 41.1" P.A. 287.90 sep 0.3 mag 9.11,9.87 Sp M2V dist. 10.71 pc (34.94 l.y.)

A 1120 AB: 508; 889x: Fairly strong notch but no split, not separated, snowman PA to west of north, >1 delta mag.  Physical with 51.75-year period, grade 3 orbit (likely), 0.246" now.  It is now coming off apastron and will close by the early 2030s, detectible visually again by 2045 or so. 

15h 27m 18.03s +09° 42' 01.1" P.A. 336.90 sep 0.2 mag 8.50,9.10 Sp G0 dist. 96.9 pc (316.09 l.y.)

COU 612 AB: 508; 889x: Very slight elongation all powers, PA N-S but can't tell A from B.  Physical with 63.09-year period, it's coming off apastron and will be difficult to detect visually until the 2060s.  No sketch!
15h 39m 02.60s +25° 44' 47.0" P.A. 150.40 sep 0.24 mag 9.15,9.04 Sp G5 dist. 106.04 pc (345.9 l.y.)

COU 798 AB: 508; 889x: Barest of notches, white stars, noticeable magnitude difference.  PA to the south.  It's in the same low power (205x) field of view with Gemma, alpha CrB, so it looks like a piece of debris from the bright star explosion as seen in the eyepiece.  Grade 4 orbit, 0.256" now, will widen only slightly by 2050 apastron.  154.7-year period.

15h 34m 40.64s +26° 54' 42.8" P.A. 212.70 sep 0.2 mag 9.50,9.80 Sp G0+G2

HU 1163 AB: 508: 667x: Barest hairline split at the best moments, snowman otherwise, very noticeable magnitude difference, PA to south.  0.257" now, it will widen slightly the next 30 years, reaching apastron around 2090 at ~0.4".  Grade 3 orbit, 217-year period. 
15h 30m 44.95s +38° 09' 48.7" P.A. 189.70 sep 0.257 mag 9.23,9.73 Sp G5 dist. 243.31 pc (793.68 l.y.)

STF2028 AB: 508; 533x: Nice delicate split with 445x, well split clean with 533x, white stars, ~1 delta, PA to SE.  Grade 3 orbit, 105.34-year period, 0.519" now it's at apastron now and will sit there until 2050 when it will start close again in its nearly edge-on orbit.

16h 12m 48.11s +39° 21' 35.6" P.A. 147.00 sep 0.519 mag 9.88,9.14 Sp G0 dist. 67.2 pc (219.21 l.y.)