08 august 2024

Opened up the 20-inch since I hadn't used it in a while.  Seeing was not very good but it was usable at higher elevations.  Used both full aperture and 7-inch mask.  I was shut down after just an hour when the cold marine layer moved overhead.

BU  627 A-BC: 178; 280x: 52 Her.  Bright white star with a fine faint B, 3 Dm, well split around 2".  BC is A 1866 9.5/9.6 0.3" not tried for (a rare case where Aitken beat Burnham to spot a double).  No parallax for BC.  A-BC has a grade 5 orbit but BC is more likely to be binary, and indeed has a grade 3 orbit of 56.4-year period.  

16h 49m 14.21s +45° 58' 59.9" P.A. 44.00 sep 2.2 mag 4.84,8.45 Sp A1V dist. 55.25 pc (180.23 l.y.)

AC 7 STF2220 AB: 178; 200x: ! Component of STF220, which is a 3.5 magnitude light orange star with a 10th magnitude wide companion.  This is BC, which while faint was resolved at 1" separation to an close unequal pair.  Brightens slightly with averted vision, the star images were cleaner with the 7-inch than full aperture.  PA to the NE, it's faint white pair near equal but nice close split.  SOC grade 1 orbit, 43.46-year period, it will be due east by 2040.  4% PRO, only 29 AU WS, 0.3+0.3 Msol, very interesting pair.

17h 46m 25.07s +27° 43' 01.4" P.A. 27.00 sep 1.0 mag 10.20,10.70 Sp M2.2V+M4V

STF2215 AB: 508; 200x: Split with seeing, 2 Dm, white stars, PA SSW.  No Gaia data for the secondary, SOC grade 4 orbit, 1062-year period, time will tell if it's binary.

17h 47m 08.05s +17° 41' 49.2" P.A. 249.00 sep 0.4 mag 6.02,6.89 Sp A1V dist. 143.06 pc (466.66 l.y.)

STT 338 AB: 178; 280x: Better resolved in the 7-inch's cleaner disks, light orange stars, clean close split, 1 Dm.  34% PRO, 154 AU WS, 2.7+2.7 Msol, it is binary.  SOC grade 4 orbit, 1276-year period.

17h 51m 58.46s +15° 19' 34.9" P.A. 168.00 sep 0.9 mag 7.21,7.38 Sp G8III dist. 234.19 pc (763.93 l.y.)