1 august 2021

Back out last night with the 6-inch, and boy I'm glad I persevered in setting it up. Seeing was mediocre for the 20-inch but pretty good for the 6. It stayed clear so I was able to observe until 12:30am, and went through my first full 2-hour cycle in the tracking.

STF 2166 AB: 152; 175x: Blue-white A and wide 1 delta mag red B.  WDS says physical and that's probably correct, 41% parallax range overlap and 3,225 AU weighted separation.  2.03/1.47 stellar mass. 

17h 27m 52.25s +11° 23' 25.8" P.A. 282.00 sep 27.2 mag 7.15,8.58 Sp A5V dist. 115.07 pc (375.36 l.y.)

STF 2140 AB: 152; 175x: Rasalgethi.  Wow best ever view, perfect disks with no flaring.  Light orange A and 2 delta mag light aqua B.  Physical with a 3600-year period.

17h 14m 38.86s +14° 23' 24.9" P.A. 102.50 sep 4.6 mag 3.48,5.40 Sp M5Ib-II dist. 110.25 pc (359.64 l.y.)

I decided to point the scope further up in altitude, and searched for someplace I hadn't explored, so I searched for a bright star south of Lyra.  I found one and pointed the scope to it -- only to see it moving across the field.  I thought the tracking might be off but the rest of the stars stayed still.  It was a slow moving, tumbling satellite.  I followed it for a while in the telescope, then in the finder, then just naked eye.  It brightened to about 5th magnitude for about three seconds then quickly faded out to invisibility.  It was moving slowly enough I called Lin out to have a look.  After another 10 minutes it went into the earth's shadow.  I think it was Cosmos 2195, a Russian rocket body, but the Heaven's Above chart seems too fast for what I saw.

STF 2525 AB: 152; 175x: Close near equal white stars.  Physical with 289-year period.
19h 26m 33.71s +27° 19' 21.9" P.A. 289.00 sep 2.2 mag 8.19,8.39 Sp F8 dist. 64.52 pc (210.46 l.y.)

BU 248 AB: 152; 285x: Blue-white A and very faint B at A's diffraction ring.  B is hazy but resolves to a point when the seeing firms.  Seen at 175x, better at 285x.  Burnham called it "A fine pair with a moderate aperture."  WDS uncertain, but there is 24% overlap, 985 AU weighted separation, and pretty high stellar mass 6.47/2.98, so it is likely gravitationally bound.

19h 17m 43.64s +23° 01' 32.0" P.A. 128.00 sep 1.8 mag 5.43,8.75 Sp B0.5IV dist. 373.13 pc (1217.15 l.y.)

BU 139 AB: 152; 456x: V338 Sge.  Very slightly notched elongation at all powers, unequal.  Tough!  Physical with 587-year period.  Burnham discovered with 6-inch at 0.5"

19h 12m 34.45s +16° 50' 47.2" P.A. 135.80 sep 0.6 mag 7.11,7.95 Sp B9IV dist. 242.72 pc (791.75 l.y.)

HO 91 AB: 152; 175x: FF Aql.  Lovely deep orange A with very faint bluish well separated B, just detected and held with direct vision.  WDS is uncertain, but there is 8% parallax overlap, 3,508 AU weighted separation, and high stellar mass 6.74/1.75, so may well be gravitationally bound.
18h 58m 14.75s +17° 21' 39.4" P.A. 146.00 sep 7.0 mag 5.44,10.12 Sp F8II dist. 473.93 pc (1545.96 l.y.)

STTA 178 AB: 152; 175x: Subtle light orange A and stronger blue B, 2 delta mag, super wide.  Finder split.  WDS uncertain.  There is 33% parallax overlap, and a pretty far 16,757 AU weighted separation, but stellar mass are on the high end, 3.89/2.27, so it might be gravitational.

19h 15m 20.09s +15° 05' 01.2" P.A. 267.00 sep 89.6 mag 5.69,7.64 Sp G8II-III dist. 212.31 pc (692.56 l.y.)

STF 2489 AB: 152; 175x: Light yellow A and 2 delta mag yellow-orange B, wide.  WDS says physical, but there is no parallax overlap -60%, it is not.

19h 16m 26.78s +14° 32' 40.6" P.A. 347.00 sep 8.3 mag 5.67,9.30 Sp B9.5V dist. 125.63 pc (409.81 l.y.)

M71: Fairly well resolved mist of stars with some brighter before it.

STF 2596 AB: 152; 175x: Light yellow A and light blue B, nicely separated, very pretty.  Physical with a 2971-year period.  

19h 54m 01.95s +15° 17' 31.7" P.A. 296.30 sep 2.0 mag 7.29,8.68 Sp F8V dist. 82.58 pc (269.38 l.y.)

M27: Seen in finder as a patch of haze.  In the scope I can see the apple core shape, and with OIII filter the nebula brightens with some striations radiating from the center, and one side of the apple core is brighter, thicker, and all the nebula has a greenish tinge.

DJU 4 AB: 152; 285x: Gorgeous!  Bright A and 3 delta mag B appears as a fine point just beyond A's diffraction.  Seen at 175x, best at 285x.  Physical with a 615-year period, at apastron.

19h 53m 27.69s +24° 04' 46.6" P.A. 247.00 sep 1.4 mag 4.63,7.37 Sp B9.5III dist. 102.56 pc (334.55 l.y.)

STT 395 AB: 152; 456x: Slightly unequal snowman at all powers.  Notching increases in strength with increasing power. Physical with 1201-year period.

20h 02m 01.45s +24° 56' 16.8" P.A. 127.80 sep 0.8 mag 5.83,6.19 Sp F2III dist. 67.98 pc (221.75 l.y.)

STF 2570 AB-C: 152; 175x: 2 delta mag, light orange AB and blue B.  AB is AGC 10, 0.2" 8.43/8.42 and would be a good target for the 20-inch.  

19h 44m 56.78s +10° 46' 30.6" P.A. 277.00 sep 4.3 mag 7.62,9.81 Sp B3IV-V dist. 170.94 pc (557.61 l.y.)

STF 2590 AB: 152; 175x: Fairly bright ice-blue A and very faint reddish B, just seen direct, wide.  WDS uncertain, there is 19% parallax overlap, 6,246 AU weighted separation, and pretty high stellar mass 4.67/1.80, so might be gravitationally bound.

19h 52m 15.58s +10° 21' 05.8" P.A. 308.00 sep 13.6 mag 6.50,10.31 Sp B7V dist. 325.73 pc (1062.53 l.y.)

BU 266 AB: 152; 175x: B seen with averted vision only, wide.  What's cool is that not jus the B star is revealed with averted vision, but the whole field sparkles with more stars with AV!  WDS says physical and there is 17% parallax overlap, 2,874 AU weighted separation, and stellar mass 2.29/0.96, so may be gravitationally bound.

19h 57m 56.15s +11° 24' 53.0" P.A. 166.00 sep 15.8 mag 7.57,11.50 Sp A3 dist. 198.41 pc (647.21 l.y.)

STF 2613 AB: 152; 175x: Lovely near equal white stars, good split.  Physical with 2106-year period.

20h 01m 26.66s +10° 44' 54.8" P.A. 355.20 sep 3.5 mag 7.48,8.02 Sp F5V+F5V dist. 80.58 pc (262.85 l.y.)

I closed the night with good views of Saturn and Jupiter.  I could see brightening and color variation in Saturn's rings, and the rugby shirt banding.  Jupiter had a GRS transit in progress, and it showed brightening in the eye.  The opposite ring was a very dark blood red (dried blood).