Burnham knew this was a true binary. In his A General Catalogue of 1290 Double Stars Discovered from 1871 to 1899 he writes: The close pair was discovered with the 18-1/2-inch [Dearborn refractor]. It is not only a most important physical system, but has a "period" shorter than any other known binary in the heavens.... It is at all times a close pair, the maximum distance being but little more than 0.2"; but as the components are of nearly the same magnitude, the elongation can be seen with a moderate aperture." Of course, now there are binaries which have been found to have much shorter periods, but I can completely understand Burnham's excitement for the possibility to observe several orbits in this pair over one's lifetime.
I made two observations with my 20-inch from my home in Fremont:
3/11/2023: 1067x: Overlapping disks, moderately strong notch, near equal. This has an astonishingly short 11.57 year period. At apastron now, it will be at periastron by 2025, and widen again -- it will be fun to see this close then open again.
9/23/2026: 1270x: Light orange-yellow stars, notched elongation, weaker member to WNW. SOC grade 1, 11.57-year period, it will close these next couple of years but be to the SE by 2032.
According to the ephemerides, my estimates of PA are correct and the difficulty to split (more magnification needed in 2026 with a weaker notch) also match:
My (crummy) field sketches show the movement, with 2023 on the left showing the W-E orientation and 2026 on the right showing the secondary clearly to the NW.
It's gratifying to see results from this project starting to come in! Many more I've been tracking will show movement in the 2030s since they need a bit more time than this one to make their movements.
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