Seeing last night was finally as predicted: good to excellent. There was some haze and dew, and I had some atmospsheric dispersion -00 Dec, so I kept my targets a bit higher. I was able to push to the limits of the scope and observed many interesting pairs. I also had exellent views of Saturn and Jupiter, which looked very turbulent -- and for the first time noticed albedo on Callisto and Ganymede. I saw Rhea, Dione, Titan, and Enceladus, Saturn's moons. Because I was still having trouble with Gen3, I reverted back to my Gen2 servocat and argo navis, and it worked fine. Better to have everything working as it should than waste time fiddling. I observed from 9:30 to 1:30am.
A 1427 AB: 508; 850-1010x: Component of STF 2667, which is an easy, well separated (3.5") 2 delta magnitude pair, light orange A and blue B. The Aitken appeared as a very slight bump with ESE PA, only at high power. SOC grade 3 orbit, 82.61-year period, it is headed toward periastron and won't be detectable again until 2040. Aitken discovered with the Lick 36-inch at apastron 0.3".
20h 20m 15.22s +39° 24' 11.8" P.A. 132.00 sep 0.146" mag 6.57,8.17 Sp A2V+A5V dist. 180.51 pc (588.82 l.y.)
STT 387 AB: 508; 635x: Very pretty light orange stars, 1 delta mag, split at 635x and suspected at lower powers, PA due east. SOC grade 2 orbit, 165-year period, it will make nearly a quarter turn to and widen north by 2045.
19h 48m 43.81s +35° 18' 41.3" P.A. 94.00 sep 0.426" mag 7.12,7.90 Sp F6V dist. 63.69 pc (207.76 l.y.)
KUI 94 AB: 508; 1690x: In best seeing, which is maybe one instant in 30 seconds, I see two disks overlapping as a snowman, highly unequal, maybe 2 delta mag, PA ENE. SOC grade 3 orbit which puts it over 0.4" -- I think this estimate is incorrect, if it was that far apart I would have split it with lower magnification. I guess the current actual is closer to 0.2" based on my result. I would not put much stock in my PA estimate, I am often not precise (visually estimated by drift method). Last measure was in 2014, and this deserves an update.
19h 41m 57.63s +40° 15' 14.6" P.A. 158.00 sep 0.448" mag 6.50,7.80 Sp A6V dist. 81.57 pc (266.08 l.y.)
KUI 103 AB: 508; 635x: A is light red color, B is very faint B is noticed with averted vision then can hold, tough in the humid conditions, PA ENE. SOC grade 3 orbit, 28.9-year period, it seems to be widening to the east, and should be an easier target for the next 10-15 years.
21h 00m 05.49s +40° 04' 12.3" P.A. 58.00 sep 1.0 mag 10.49,12.40 Sp M2V+M0.5V dist. 15.29 pc (49.88 l.y.)
BU 989 AB: 508; 1690x: Seen at all high powers as an elongated olive with PA ESE. SOC grade 1 orbit, it will tighten to <0.1" periastron in 2026, then widen to ~0.25" apastron in 2033.
21h 44m 38.70s +25° 38' 42.0" P.A. 134.00 sep 0.237" mag 4.94,5.04 Sp F5V dist. 34.22 pc (111.63 l.y.)
STT 38 BC: 508; 635x: Component of STF 205 (Almach), to me this is the easily the most beautuful binary star in the sky. Brilliant orange A, and a vivid blue B which becomes a 1 delta mag pair hairline split >600x, both stars blue. Think of a more closely separated Alberio but where the companion is also a stunning pair. STT 38 has a grade 2 SOC orbit, 62.63-year period, and is widening to 0.5" apastron in 2048.
02h 03m 53.92s +42° 19' 47.5" P.A. 120.00 sep 0.3 mag 5.30,6.50 Sp B8V+A0V dist. 120.48 pc (393.01 l.y.)
EGG 2 Aa-Ab: 508; 1690x: Component of STF 245 AB, I observed it as "feels elongated in the same N-S line as the STF pair." Checking the data later, the PA for STF 245 is 293-degrees (WNW) and EGG 2 is 97 (ESE), so I'm fairly sure I have it. SOC grade 3 orbit, 29.71-year period, it is to reach 0.246" apastron in 2028. I felt it was more difficult than the current given 0.228" separation, so this is another one which needs to be measured (last measure was in 2014).
02h 18m 36.27s +40° 16' 43.7" P.A. 97.00 sep 0.228" mag 7.90,7.90 Sp F3V dist. 97.47 pc (317.95 l.y.)
A 2906 AB: 508; 1270x: "The primary has a bump, slightly off line of the main pair's PA, very tough." The main pair is STF 314 which has PA 316-degrees. A 2906 has a 2018 measure PA at 115-degrees, so I think I do have it (316-180=136, which is 21-degrees off the A 2906's line). Given this is >1 delta magnitude, I don't think I could have resolved it any better than a "bump."
02h 52m 52.03s +52° 59' 50.6" P.A. 115.00 sep 0.237" mag 7.26,8.78 Sp B8III dist. 307.69 pc (1003.68 l.y.)
STT 53 AB: 508; 850x: Gorgeous light orange stars, good clean split at 850x, perfect airy disks, unequal by half a delta mag. SOC grade 3 orbit, 114.3-years, it will rapidly close to periastron around 2040.
03h 17m 44.01s +38° 38' 21.1" P.A. 232.00 sep 0.518" mag 7.73,8.50 Sp G0 dist. 60.1 pc (196.05 l.y.)
A 1710 AB: 508; 500x: Lovely near equal light orange stars, well split. SOC grade 3 orbit, 109.5-year period, it will close to a challenging 0.25" separation by 2045.
04h 06m 25.49s +43° 25' 05.4" P.A. 307.00 sep 0.584" mag 8.16,8.27 Sp G5 dist. 69.2 pc (225.73 l.y.)
STF 228 AB: 508; 850x: Perfect airy disks. light yellow-white unequal stars, split nicely. SOG grade 2 orbit, nearly circular, 145.41-year period, it will make a quarter turn by 2045.
02h 14m 02.43s +47° 29' 03.3" P.A. 314.00 sep 0.497" mag 6.56,7.21 Sp F2V+F7V dist. 39.59 pc (129.14 l.y.)
01h 11m 14.56s +41° 13' 17.3" P.A. 5.00 sep 0.231" mag 8.35,9.36 Sp G5 dist. 116.28 pc (379.31 l.y.)
STF3062 AB: 508; 150x: Super easy light yellow stars, more than 1 delta mag, PA to the north. SOC grade 2 orbit, 106.7-year period, it will tighten to ~0.8" a quarter turn to the east by 2045.
00h 06m 15.81s +58° 26' 12.5" P.A. 7.00 sep 1.5 mag 6.42,7.32 Sp G3V+G8V dist. 21.48 pc (70.07 l.y.)
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