First observing in a month! We've had a high-pressure system locked in over the Bay Area for weeks. It created an inversion at around 1500' and has locked in haze and fog over all the valleys, so it has not seemed worth going out. The inversion also creates a layer of turbulent air, so while seeing might be predicted as good, it is usually a seething mess.
I also had a malfunction of my ServoCAT on the 20-inch. I searched and found another Gen2 set to replace it, and finally tried using it over the last few days. It turns out (having re-read the instructions), when I replaced the azimuth encoder, I accidentally flipped a control switch on my original unit to incorrect position -- one which turns the motors off! I put my original unit back in place and used it last night -- it worked fine. And my pointing accuracy was pretty good too.
Mira is at minimum, though I missed the window slightly as it is brightening from it's mag 8.5 low. I tried desperately to see JOY 1, currently 0.4" per the SOC grade 4 orbit (due east). I could not see any companion at any power, but I did get a strong sense of an elongation. The seeing was just too poor. This pair will close in the coming years, so really now and maybe next minimum is my only chance. I'm planning to go to Fremont Peak this new moon, to get above the inversion layer and hopefully borrow someone else's telescope -- or use the 18-inch dob I got recently, once I have the new ServoCAT installed on it. Must work on that project urgently!
I continued observing other pairs but masked down mostly due to the seeing. It felt good to have the old girl running again.
BU 8 AB: 203; 280x: Very close, subtle split, large delta. No Gaia data for the secondary.
02h 21m 22.11s +08° 52' 50.6" P.A. 224.00 sep 1.6 mag 8.03,9.20 Sp F0 dist. 120.34 pc (392.55 l.y.)
BU 506 AB: 508; 560x: A solid fleck of a star, fairly well separated, with seeing in A's diffraction. A is light yellow orange. No Gaia data for the secondary. SOC grade 5 orbit 850-year period.
01h 31m 28.99s +15° 20' 45.0" P.A. 62.00 sep 0.6 mag 3.83,7.51 Sp G8III dist. 107.18 pc (349.62 l.y.)
KUI 8 AB: 203; 560x: Unequal overlapping disks all powers. Need slightly more aperture. No Gaia parallax data. SOC grade 4 orbit, 653-year period, little change the next few decades.
02h 27m 59.93s +01° 57' 39.1" P.A. 40.00 sep 0.5 mag 7.09,7.63 Sp K0III dist. 166.67 pc (543.68 l.y.)
STF 231 AB: 203; 140x: Pretty pastel yellow and light blue, 1 Dm, wide. Bedford Catalog, "pale yellow...sapphire blue." -18% PRO, it is not likely binary.
02h 12m 47.54s -02° 23' 37.1" P.A. 235.00 sep 16.8 mag 5.72,7.71 Sp F8V+G1V dist. 39.7 pc (129.5 l.y.)
STF 239 AB: 203; 140x: Part of a large loose group of stars but is not an open cluster, unequal white wide. Bedford Catalog, "silvery white." -7% PRO, it is not likely binary.
02h 17m 25.29s +28° 44' 42.1" P.A. 212.00 sep 14.0 mag 7.09,7.83 Sp F7V+F9V dist. 34.52 pc (112.6 l.y.)
STF 271 AB: 203; 140x: White A and wide 3 Dm B. Bedford Catalog. Lacks Gaia parallax data.
02h 30m 32.31s +25° 14' 06.8" P.A. 184.00 sep 13.0 mag 5.93,9.94 Sp F6IV dist. 51.76 pc (168.84 l.y.)
STG 2 AB: 203; 140x: Bright light green A, B not seen. Bedford Catalog, A pale orange and B cinereous ("especially of feathers, light grey"). No shared parallax, it is not binary.
02h 44m 56.54s +10° 06' 50.9" P.A. 344.00 sep 158.4 mag 4.20,13.60 Sp F0IV dist. 25.77 pc (84.06 l.y.)
STT 45 AB: 203; 280x: Very close split, white, with seeing only. Lacks Gaia data. SOC grade 5 orbit 1207-year period.
02h 40m 56.61s +04° 52' 14.6" P.A. 256.00 sep 0.8 mag 7.39,8.95 Sp F0
STT 47 AB: 203; 140x: Bright A has almost a greenish blue tint, and foveal coaxing reveals two faint stars not far off forming equatorial triangle. Nice scene. Lacks Gaia data.
02h 49m 59.03s +27° 15' 37.8" P.A. 296.00 sep 34.7 mag 3.63,11.04 Sp B8Vn dist. 50.79 pc (165.68 l.y.)
