2018 CalStar fourth night

Conditions remained about the same as the previous night, ~21.6 SQM with 6-7/10 seeing.  I entertained some people with the Springsonian and tried a few observations -- next time, I won't just have it there as a curiousity or to "relax" -- I will develop an observing program for it to actually put it to some work.  If it's as good a telescope as some said it was, I should really use it in addition to enjoying it.

90 Her = BU 130: Seeing is poor but it resolves momentarily to be just split in the diffraction, 1"  [I don't think I saw it -- the PA was to the west, either SW or NW, but the PA in WDS is to the east... will save as a challenge from home.]
17H 53M 18.03S +40° 00' 28.6" P.A. 110 SEP 1.6 MAG 5.28,8.76 SP K3III DIST. 108.46 PC (353.8 L.Y.)

NGC 16: Bright nucleus and what looks like a double core?  Diffuse halo & fading edges.

NGC 112: Small, fairly faint, gradually brighter to the middle, quasi-stellar nucleus, 3:1 WNW-ESE. [v13.6, Sc]

HGC 99: Three small glows close together in an arc or L shape.  Each with quasi-stellar nucleus.  Very small and faint, at the edge of direct vision.  333x. [a, b, c seen; d and e not seen]. 

NGC 7806 & 7805: Three small glows with quasi-stellar nuclei.  Very small and faint, at the edge of direct vision. [The third glow, to the east, is MCG +05-01-026, is excessively faint and I have to wonder if I really saw it -- however my sketch matches, and I can tentatively claim it, as only two galaxies were plotted on the chart.]

NGC 7819: Sits as the diamond in a ring of stars.  Diffuse 2:1 oval E-W, small bright core; faint and small overall [v13.5 SBb].

NGC 130: Small and round. [Not seen; this is a small group of four galaxies.]

NGC 39: Pretty faint, and small, with a round, broken and mottled halo, quasi-stellar nucleus, and a faint star inside the southern rim.  205x. [v13.5, Sc]

NGC 43:  Faint, small, round halo with a small bright core elongated 2:1 E-W.  [v12.6 SB0]

NGC 70: Seven faint galaxies.  Three brightest and largest (NGC 70, 68, 71) in a triangle mingled with some faint stars.  All are moderately faint, slightly elongated with bright cores.  The other galaxies are scatters, much smaller and fainter: NGC 67 extremely small and to the SW of the NGC 70 trio; NGC 69 same description, to the south; NGC 72 slightly brighter, to the SE.  At the far eastern edge of the field is the very small and faint glow of NGC 74.  Like so many rice grains scattered...  [In the photo NGC 70 has a sweeping spiral halo, which was not seen visually.]

NGC 76: Stellar nucleus, small and faint, diffuse halo slightly E-W elongated. [Close eastern companion  MCG +05-01-073 not noticed.]

NGC 97: My notes mention three galaxies, which I sketched in a line, with a bright central one.  However the actual galaxy does not have companions -- it's possible I misinterpreted the stars N and S of the NGC 97 as galaxy, either due to faintness or seeing.  In any case, NGC 97 is bright, small, dominated by a large bright core and stellar nucleus, and very thin haze of a halo, slightly elongated N-S.

NGC 108: Stellar nucleus, very diffuse, faint round halo; core elongated E-W.  [DSS shows a tie-fighter light appearance of the core and nucleus, and a ring halo.]

NGC 140: Stellar nucleus and a faint, relatively large mottled and disordered round halo.  Three stars trail to the SE from the rim like a tail.  [v13.2, Scd]

NGC 183 & AGC 71: Many other very faint glows in the area, too hard to draw; nice to just take them in.  NGC 183 is the brightest and largest, stellar nucleus, round diffuse halo.

CGCG 500-74: 3:1, fairly small, fairly bright, direct vision, gradually brighter to middle halo.
<<CHECK ATLAS>>

IC 43: Very faint and diffuse, need averted vision to see at first.  Small, with a just stellar nucleus and a very faint mottled round halo.  Another galaxy "felt" with averted vision, a quarter field to the north [IC 45, 15.3B]

NGC 233: Small, fairly faint, dominated by large core and diffuse and mottled halo [12.4v, E0]

NGC 243: 3:1 with strong mottling in core.  Just to east of bright 10th mag star.  [13.7v S].

NGC 266: Fairly bright round glow, oval core E-W; view somewhat hindered by nearby star to south.  [11.6v, SBab].

Using the 10-inch I made the star hop down from Beta Ceti down through NGC 247 The Dusty Hand, to NGC 253 and the globular NGC 288 -- all of which were visible in the 50mm finder, if dimly in comparison to prior observations in the 20-inch.  I then went in search of the Sculptor Dwarf.  I spent a good while searching for the dwarf and thought I had some brown mass of a boarder visible when holding a yellow filter in front of the eyepiece, but nothing certain.  The area was encroached by the Paseo Robles light dome.  I went further down to NGC 300, probably the lowest declination DSO I've seen.  Somehow it appeared better in the 50mm finder, brighter and more cohesive as a dim elongated glow, but highly broken and distorted in the 10-inch at 37x.

NGC 262: Stellar nucleus, bright round core; small.  Halo is faint and somewhat elongated E-W from the core, with am "eyebrow" rim (possibly a detached arm) on the north side.  [There is a 2MASS galaxy on the eastern rim which I did not make note of.  13.1v S0-a]

NGC 287: Very faint small elongation, N-S, moderately bright but small, with almost no halo.  [14.0v, S0-a]

NGC 296: Near star.  Gradually brighter to middle, 3:1, fairly large.  [Seem I looked at the wrong one; the galaxy to the north UGC 567 is near a star, and what is more has a second galaxy, face on spiral UGC 566, nearby.]

NGC 282: Small and fairly faint, brighter core and 2:1 NE-SW.  Hindered by the 8.4 mag star to the south.

NGC 315 Group: 5-6 very faint galaxies in a jagged line.  Did not sketch since Steve called me over to look at 5 Cas, a pretty 2+1 double.  [Could be I saw only 2 galaxies, the others unresolved stars -- I didn't have time to study this field.]

NGC 404: Bright nucleus and core, strong impression of spiral. Next to a very bright star to the SE which strongly interferes with the view--throws out diffraction spikes.  [10.3v, E-S0.  The spiral is an illusion -- I wonder if it is the concentric rings which show when doing a star test -- maybe I was out of focus?]

NGC 431: Bright compact round core, and 4:1 dim halo elongated 4:1 NE-SW.  Suspect two other galaxies in the field.  [likely just faint stars.  12.9v, SB0]

NGC 447: Large oval with bright round core with a foreground star just east of the core, NE-SW extensions coming from the core.  There halo is very diffuse and round, very faint.  There are three faint stars on the SW rim and some more scattered to the SW.

2018 CalStar third night

Conditions were better and I felt more relaxed, and I was likely more productive.  Observing without a plan has the charm of finding new discoveries, but one needs a particular frame of mind to keep interest and attention, and to keep the observing pleasurable.  At times I wished I had a plan to keep me more focussed.  I was not over tired and that helped keep me going, though I petered out at around 2:30am.  It would have been nice to keep going since the sky conditions were very good.  Tonight should be the best night yet so I hope to rest up and be able to make the most of it.  I do feel tired this morning and have the beginnings of a sore throat.

As I go through my notes I find I observed some of the same objects twice within this session -- I simply forgot from a few minutes before what I had seen before.

NGC 7013: 205x.  Fairly bright and large, bright small core, elongated 3:1 NNW-ESE, diffuse but mottled halo with fading edges.  Faint star on the NNW tip of the halo.  Faint tumbling satellite passed by in the FOV during the observation, fun to watch it flash and flicker.

MWP 1: 205x.  Exceedingly faint large shell seen with averted vision & OIII filter only; it hangs from a string of stars like a water drop. Brighter on the SW rim, and barely there through the rest of the shape; seems to have ghostly rings inside the shell?  Edges are soft but not diffuse. A small star is green with the OIII but it is not central to the nebulosity and not clear to me it is a central star.  [According to Kent Wallace in his Visual Observations of Planetary Nebula, it is called the "Methuselah Nebula" due to its age, estimated at 150,000 years, old for a PNe; the shells of most dissipate within 50,000 years.  He also says the first known visual observation of this object was made during 2002 CalStar, probably in the same baseball field I was set up in, also in a 20-inch, and that a certain Jeff Gortatowsky verified the sighting!]

Alves 1 = ALV1 (PN G079.8-10.2): Very marginal observation.  Large amorphous glow in a scattering of stars, irregular shape, very exceedingly faint -- more felt than seen; maybe seen because I thought something should be there.  205x & OIII only.  [Credit for the image, the full version of which also includes MWP 1, is here.]

NGC 7037: Poor cluster, arc of stars and a triangle; 205x. [I only noted the ~10 brighter stars; there are fainter stars in the group -- needed to have a wider field to show it separated from the rich field.]

UGC 11761: Small extremely faint, elongated with brighter nucleus.  Two bright stars to the north and north east.  205x [Doubtful if seen; 0.19"x0.19", 13.8b -- well maybe?]

UGC 11781: Round core, very faint extended halo which brightens with averted vision.  205x  [v13.05, S0]

IC 1392 & UGC 11775: The IC has a bright 2:1 E-W elongated core, with a very faint halo haze around it; it is preceded by a group of five brighter stars, which include some faint doubles.  The UGC is very faint, small, and round 4' to the SE; it has a star just to the SE of the core.  205x

Abell 78: Very soft, faint large oval glow between two stars.  After some longer looks, the shell has a brighter arc along the southern rim.  205x w/ OIII

UGC 11762: Small, faint, round!

BU 167: Elongation but not in the right PA; some faint stars about but too far....  667x  [consider not seen...]
21H 36M 13.98S +30° 03' 19.5" P.A. 88 SEP 1.7 MAG 6.37,9.95 SP G8III

NGC 7116: Averted vision to see but can then hold with direct vision.  Moderately large and fairly faint, 4:1 WNW-ESE halo with a gradually brighter core offset to the NW.

UGC 11834: Extremely faint E-W elongated glow, even surface brightness; hindered by star on south rim.  205x

NGC 7137: Halo looks like a stumpy comet tail attached to a faint star attached to the rim and preceding it it to the NW.  The glow is wedge shaped with a uneven surface brightness.  Interesting!   [v12.4, SBc]

Abell 74: Barest hint of round faint round nebulosity.  Large.  Barely there.  OIII only 205x.

NGC 7052: Bright elongated / bulging core with hazy halo, 3:1 NE-SW.

NGC 7080: Rather faint halo, mostly round, fairly small, within a triangle of bright stars.  Interesting curve shape in the halo -- may be barred spiral? [v12.3, SBb]

And-G1: I see a faint round haze, rather large, fairly bright (direct vision) at the star hop location -- but I remember reading I should be seeing "Mickey Mouse" ears composed of two stars plus the globular.  So I'm not sure what I saw.

And I = PGC 2666: 4:1 elongated glow, extremely faint.  Used yellow filter which seemed to help a little.  Doubt the observation a little.  [Did not see -- the galaxy is far fainter and more diffuse than described.]

Baade A & B: Two extremely faint, slightly elongated glows, both with stellar nuclei.
Need to find a photo...

NGC 317: Small, fairly faint, 3:1 elongation E-W, with a gradually brighter core.  There's a small but bright non-stellar round glow hugging the NW rim of the galaxy. 205x, SBbc, v13.4 [The non-stellar glow is UGC 593, v13.56, SAB0a.  UGC 594, not noticed, is in the eastern spiral arm].

Mad 1: I tried up to 667x, no close split.  There is an orange star preceding a pretty blue bright star.  [Not seen...]
01H 00M 35.58S +47° 19' 14.6" P.A. 358.2 SEP 0.76 MAG 7.66,9.05 SP A2

IC 66: Curve shaped spiral 4:1 elongated NW-SE, pretty large, bright core.  Two stars on edge of SE end.  [Seems the curve shape comes from the brighter halo on the NW end giving the galaxy a twist look in visual.  205x.]

UGC 522: Faint, moderately large, very faint stellar nucleus with hints of spiral in the halo.  205x

NGC 278: Quasi-stellar nucleus and large round bright mottled halo -- wants to show spiral but not quite.  Bright star due north.  333x. [v10.8, SBb].

BU 257: Wide split 2-3 delta mag. [Not seen, this is a close double...]
00H 40M 13.00S +47° 15' 21.0" P.A. 253 SEP 0.6 MAG 8.06,9.11 SP G0 DIST. 246.31 PC (803.46 L.Y.)

NGC 185 = Hodge V: Glowing ball-like core slightly brighter than larger halo, 3:2 E-W, with knots scattered within.  Wants to show some kind of structure but remains hazy.  205x.

NGC 147: Very large 3:1 NE-SW glow with a gradually brighter core and a central star or stellar nucleus.  I see a dark lane or cut-off running along the SE side.  Quite diffuse and large.  [It is a foreground star in the center of the galaxy.]  205x

BU 394: Faint, 3 delta mag, wide separation.  [Not seen, is a close separation.]
00H 30M 45.56S +47° 31' 47.5" P.A. 277.6 SEP 0.84 MAG 8.49,8.77 SP G0 DIST. 49.33 PC (160.91 L.Y.)

Perseus Cluster: A dozen and more galaxies in each eyepiece view, swarming.  I did not try to sketch or describe, only to take it all in.  After a while of looking into the far distance, I pulled away from the scope, and looked into our own galaxy -- perhaps much like those I had seen at such a great distance.  I was isolated on the field, with its night sounds and wind, but felt what I was seeing, though strange and wondrous, was familiar, and was home.

2018 CalStar second night

The sky was more transparent though seeing remained average.  So I didn't try hard on doubles.  I didn't try hard on much -- my observing has been lackadaisical and undirected, so the number of objects observed are few.  The quality of the observations was not good either.  The Argo/Servo still gave me problems.  I need to set it up at home again and really work out the tracking and the handpad control.  I can't do it at a star party when I should be using the time to observe.

I swept some more with the Springsonian, sharing views with Marko and Bill.  At the end of the night around 2am I looked at comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner after seeing it in Steve's scope -- something the scope is meant to do.  This morning at Chez Dan several people were interested in the scope, so I expect visitors tonight.  And tonight I should really put the hammer down -- don't bother with the Argo, just observe.  I think I'll pick some galaxy cluster and work it hard using the Uranometria charts.

Transparency 3/5 Seeing 6/10

WSI 110 / STF 2725: The Struve was easy, half delta mag and wide.  I was after the super close WSI but had no hope of seeing it.
20H 46M 13.31S +15° 54' 26.4" P.A. 321 SEP 0.1 MAG 7.90,8.90 SP K0

AC 15: Tried this at Steve's suggestion, he was not able to resolve the B star -- I gave it a try too but after many passes at different magnifications I could not see it either -- will need to keep trying. [I found out I was looking at 90 Her, when AC 15 is actually 99 Her.  So I need to try again!]

Poskus 1: ~30 brighter stars in a wide oval shape, some fainter behind, around 1/4 degree.

NGC 7006: Very faint galaxy-like, without star resolution, small.  It is a very densely packed cluster of faint stars, so looks more uniform in surface brightness.  205x; did not try higher magnification to resolve...

NGC 7094: ! Some barest hint of round shell without filter, but only having seen it with averted vision first then can hold direct; central star is hazy without filter.  OIII shows it best, brightens the nebula considerably.  The edge is crisp and there is some brightening along the west and south rim.  Somewhat irregularly bright middle.

NGC 7101: Very faint, need averted vision to notice.  Quasi-stellar nucleus, low surface brightness halo with diffuse edge, round.  [C v13.5]

MCG+01-55-005: Edge on 6:1 NNE-SSW but some gentle incline; very faint halo, moderately large.  Stellar nucleus flashing with averted vision.  In spite of its faintness I have a strong sense of spiral structure.  [b14.9]

BU 75: Yellow white and faint blue, well split [Saw AB,C.  AB is 1.1" equal mag.]
21H 55M 31.42S +10° 52' 49.5" P.A. 211 SEP 35.3 MAG 7.72,12.50 SP G5

MLB 282: Did not see -- may not have been looking at the correct star.  It should be near equal triple with 4" separation.

NGC 14 = Arp 235: 333x.  Fairly large, fairly faint, diffuse halo gradually brighter core, non-stellar knot on the west side of the core with what seems to be a spiral arm separated from the knot like a parenthesis also to the west.  Strong appearance of spiral, or at least mottling; core orientated N-S.  [v12.1, IBm]

NGC 7814: Large, bright oval / bulging central core, uneven surface brightness, mottled wide extended halo with diffuse edges.  NW-SE.  333x  [The mottling may have been hints of the dramatic dust lane.]

Arp 130: 205x  Two quasi-stellar nuclei share a round small faint halo.

UGC 148: Small, elongated, very faint, nebulous.  Just barely stellar nucleus, barely brighter core offset to the south, elongated 6:1 E-W, long diffuse tips.  Very pretty.    [SAc b14.0]

IC 4: Small, fairly faint, quasi-stellar nucleus, gradually brighter core N-S, round halo.  [In fact a pretty barred spiral.]

NGC 57: Moderately large, stellar nucleus, bright round core, faint round diffuse halo.  [E1, v11.6]

NGC 100: Beautiful.  Very faint edge-on, lengthens and brightens with averted vision, very long, NE-SW.  Quite a sight.  Some mottling in the core area suggesting spiral or dust lanes.

UGC 1154: Very faint, very small, round, stellar nucleus.  [b14.4, S].

NGC 661: Small, bright, intense oval core NE-SW, diffuse thin halo. [E2, v12.2]

MCG+5+5-11: Averted vision only, small, even surface brightness, N-S elongation.

NGC 670: 4:1 N-S, edge on, bright bulging core and fading tips.  [S0, v12.7]

NGC 672 [SBc v10.9] & IC 1727 [v11.5 SB]: Dramatic pair of large fairly bright spiral galaxies.  NGC 672 is brighter, with a prominent bright core and a large diffuse halo 3:1 NE-SW; the SW halo is brighter and larger (the near-side spiral arm) and is peppered with five faint knots.  IC 1727 is fainter, and more chaotic in appearance: bright but small elongated core NW-SE, with a large faint sweeping halo giving strong impression of spiral structure.  William Herschel discovered NGC 672; how could he miss IC 1727?  Other than the IC's fainter surface brightness, he should have been able to see it.  205x & 333x.

NGC 684: Stellar nucleus, bright small core, elongated 4:1 E-W.  333x [v12.4, Sb]

IC 1737: 3:1 Gradually brighter to the middle, diffuse edges, near the "Putter Cluster" XXXXX
-- Check atlas, wrong designation?

Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner: 10-inch Springsonian, 37x: Bright coma and a lot going on (mottling) in the coma and tail.  Long wide tail and a stubby anti-tail.  Comet filter dims the main tail but livens up the coma.  Steve's 24-inch showed streamers radiating from the coma into the main tail, which appeared larger and with a larger/longer antitail.  Prominently green color.

2018 CalStar first night

I arrived Wednesday at around 4:30pm and the temperature was a surprising 95 degrees.  The Bay Area was under a persistent haze of smoke and water vapor, but the sky kept getting more blue as I drove south to Lake San Antonio.  I found a spot next to Steve and began setting up both my 20-inch and my 10-inch Springsonian.

I started out doing the star alignment with the Argo/Servo CAT, but it would not take -- when I tried to find an object it said not aligned.  This happened twice, before I got the message to redo the first step.  Then I was able to land at an object within half a degree -- it was at the edge of a low-power eyepiece.  But then I had the same problems as before: The object would drift out of the eyepiece and when I use the handpad to try to center it, the object would overshoot.  I kept at it for about an hour, trying to get it to work efficiently, but I felt I was losing observing time and eventually I just gave up.  Since the object I wanted would be off the field I still needed charts to find it.  And I had more trouble with the handpad than I did having to bump the scope manually to keep an object in view in an undriven scope.  I'll try again tonight but so far I am not happy with this system!

When I grew frustrated I went over to the 10-inch for some Milky Way scanning, and felt better at the simplicity of using that scope.  Tonight I need to use binoviewers on it.  I went back to the 20-inch and did some deep sky, but it was not satisfying -- transparency was on the poor side -- and switched to doubles instead.  SQM was 21.5 -- hurt by transparency and the Paseo Robles light dome to the south east. Seeing was 6/10 until about 11pm then improved to 7/10 until I stopped observing around 2:30 am.

UGC 12163: This was the galaxy I was looking for last time I was out at Pinnacles when I noticed a double star.  Using 333x the galaxy had a quasi-stellar nucleus (which tipped me off it was a galaxy and not a star) with a very faint small round halo which brightened with averted vision.  It is a Seyfert 1 galaxy, and close-up DSS2 shows a disturbed barred spiral with brightenings on the NW and SE arms -- might both be background objects?   After observing it I went on to the doubles which surround it:

CHE 406: Orange A, faint B seen direct vision, well split
22H 42M 49.63S +29° 43' 42.7" P.A. 202 SEP 16 MAG 9.13,13.60 SP M0

BKO 665: A is blue-white; B seen averted vision only. well split.
22H 44M 12.90S +29° 36' 37.3" P.A. 23 SEP 17.7 MAG 7.80,13.60 SP M0

I noticed another double 45" to the direct north of the UGC galaxy, near equal, 13.5" separated PA ESE.  The star to the west is [SRB2001] 3 and to the ESE is not identified in SIMBAD or GAIA, so I can't tell if it might be a physical pair.  SIMBAD says SRB2001 3 is just a star, no note of multiplicity.

I went back to CHE 410 to attempt to see the 5" separated 16th magnitude star I noticed before on the DSS2 -- even though it seems not to be a double.  At 333x I immediately saw the 19" separated 13th magnitude B star flash with averted vision as before, but did not see the 16th mag star -- seeing was flaring the star.  At 667x the 19" B star ceased to be flashing AV only and became a steady DV object.  I had a hint of the 5" separated star, which I felt as a small point brightening in the correct PA about 25% of the time, but don't feel I have a good enough sighting to claim it.  Perhaps seeing will be better tonight.

NGC 7303: 205x.  Very faint, diffuse, irregularly bright core & edges, weak concentration, faint nucleus; 3:1 ENE-WSW.  Lies in a general vacancy of stars.  Very faint double star 1.9' to the SW.  Photos show a highly disrupted halo with several knots and a great swooping arm to the NE, which should appear more interesting in larger apertures and higher magnification.

NGC 7292: Diffuse 3:1 with brighter core, but no nucleus -- seems to be a foreground star near where the nucleus would be.  To SW is a group of four 11-12th magnitude stars, three in triangle.  [Saw the foreground star which is not identified in Aladin.]  The halo is larger and rounder in DSS2.

UGC 12011B: Hazy quasi-stellar nucleus, round halo which glows brighter and grows larger with averted vision.  Near an 11th magnitude star 1.7' to the NW.  [This is a pair of galaxies, both Bmag 14, so I am not certain of what I saw.  I did not resolve two nuclei.]

Ray 15: Group of around 12 stars, varying magnitudes.  Four brightest form a square, two to the south appear double.  205x.  [Check this one later, can't find in Aladin]

AGC 10: Part of a wider split system, but can't resolve the 0.2" pair, though elongation is suggested. [AB,C is the wider pair, 7.62/9.81 4.3"]
19H 44M 56.78S +10° 46' 30.6" P.A. 140 SEP 0.2 MAG 8.43,8.42 SP B3IV-V

J 124: Two faint stars around where one is listed [Seeing both AB and AC, 13.5 and 13.7, 20.5" and 21.5", nearly the same PA 254 and 220.]

NGC 6837: Very faint, small knot of stars.  Seems not much different than other small clumps around, detached but not much concentrated.  205x [I should have used lower power to set it off from the background more.]

UGC 11512: Seen at the edge of direct vision [B mag 14.4, SB spiral].  Brightens with averted vision.  3:1 N-S, gradually brighter core, irregular surface brightness.  In a box of four stars, one of which [SW corner,TYC 1080-572-1 vmag 10.64] is double PA to N, 11.25" 1 delta mag.

NGC 6840 & 6843: Both open clusters are poor, loose, with some a medium brightness range and not well separated.  Why the NGC designation?  [John Herschel discovered them, but seems they are not true clusters, just some random brighter stars in front of the richer Milky Way background.]

NGC 6858: Another disappointing cluster, mostly bright stars, bean shaped N-S, rather large.  Pretty orange 9th magnitude star to east in field.  205x.

BU 428: A couple of faint stars, wide separation, cant tell what might be it... [not seen, 0.8"]
20H 06M 43.37S +12° 56' 12.1" P.A. 356 SEP 0.8 MAG 7.55,9.13 SP F4III

NGC 7312: 205x.  2:1 E-W oval halo, very faint, need averted vision to pick up, then can hold with direct.  Gradually brighter to middle. [DSS2 shows a beautiful barred spiral with a bright oval core. SBb, v13.4]

NGC 7374A: My notes say "Oval, very diffuse, gradually brighter to middle" but this is actually a small galaxy with an IC pair -- so not seen, I think.

NGC 7386 area [WBL 688 galaxy cluster 360 mly distant]: 7386 is second brightest and second largest, 3:2 NW-SE, with a bright core, moderately bright and fairly large [S0, v12.3].  5.6' to SSW is NGC 7385 which is bright and large, NE-SW halo & bright core [E2, v12.0].  SIMBAD says quasar 4C.11.71 z=0.026165 is in the core of this galaxy -- radio loud AGN].  NGC 7387 was a small oval glow 5.3' SW of 7386 [S0 v14.0].  NGC 7389 was small, faint, NW-SE 3:1 with a brighter core and lay in the middle of the group.  NGC 7390 was very small, very faint, round at the SE corner of the group [S0 v14.2]. NGC 7383 was at the SW corner, also very small, very faint and round [SB0 v13.7].  So that's six NGC in the area.  I had sense of some other extremely faint, non-stellar smudges, which were likely even fainter galaxies, but they did not come through.

NGC 7479: ! Long bright central bar running N-S then a strong arm sweeping to the west then north in a great mist of halo which grows larger with averted vision.  Eastern arm is much weaker and needs averted vision to see.  There's a faint [v13.1] star just to the north tip of the bar.  The SIMBAD layer in Aladin has an insane number of orange squares, indicating specific objects.

STF 2675: Bright white and 3 delta mag light orange B, well split.  333x
20H 08M 53.32S +77° 42' 40.9" P.A. 120 SEP 7.2 MAG 4.39,8.34 SP B9III

HEI 7: Just glimpsed a speck in the diffraction ring when seeing stills; very tentative.  333x
20H 37M 21.54S +75° 36' 01.5" P.A. 271.4 SEP 0.58 MAG 7.68,10.48 SP K0V DIST. 27.59 PC (90 L.Y.)

ES 137: AaAb not round but really messy seeing, but at 2.26 delta mag is would be really tough at 0.3".  AB is an easy wide split.  BC is a faintest averted vision flash of a split.  [BC data here.]  333x
21H 19M 13.50S +61° 51' 43.0" P.A. 72 SEP 2.8 MAG 10.30,13.00 SP B8

ES 138: White-yellow and blue, 4 delta mag, wide.  667x
21H 20M 25.42S +60° 41' 14.2" P.A. 279 SEP 10 MAG 6.78,13.00 SP F6III

HU 964: Very close but split clean.  Bluish B in first diffraction, ~1", 5 delta mag.  667x
21H 29M 20.54S +67° 03' 03.6" P.A. 269 SEP 1.3 MAG 6.90,12.60 SP A0III

BU 690: Bright orange and very faint westerly B, wide split.  There are several other faint stars in the area more widely split (7 star system). 667x
21H 43M 30.45S +58° 46' 48.2" P.A. 259 SEP 19.3 MAG 4.27,12.30 SP M2IAE+K2I

HDS 3132 = 15 Cep = STT 461: AaAbI want to say this is out of round but it resolves to one point, not two, so very doubtful.  667x
22H 03M 53.86S +59° 48' 52.5" P.A. 144 SEP 0.5 MAG 6.82,9.87 SP B1V

BU 702 = Delta Cep: Slight brightening in the diffraction ring, westerly.  Another off to the bottom left. [10 star system, so the second pair likely part of this system.  Doubtful I saw AB, delta mag too extreme -- need a 36" refractor and 1200x]  667x
22H 29M 10.25S +58° 24' 54.7" P.A. 282 SEP 21.8 MAG 4.21,13.00 SP F5IAB

BU 1092: Notched! Near equal.  With seeing.  667x
22H 36M 08.65S +72° 52' 51.1" P.A. 220.5 SEP 0.37 MAG 8.30,8.30 SP F5 DIST. 84.46 PC (275.51 L.Y.)

STT 484: Not seen, just flares.  Near equal nearby, what is it? [I was perhaps just looking at the wrong star.  When I type the coordinates into Aladin it takes me to a near equal pair just as I described in my notes.  This star and its pair show multiple diffraction spikes which indicate multiplicity.  There are 6 stars in the system.  I need to try this one again.]
22H 56M 13.13S +72° 50' 14.5" P.A. 95.6 SEP 0.32 MAG 7.57,9.47 SP A2 DIST. 178.57 PC (582.5 L.Y.)

BU 180: Exceedingly fine split at best moments, hairline, 1 delta mag.
23H 07M 09.99S +60° 49' 57.1" P.A. 131.3 SEP 0.52 MAG 7.95,9.23 SP A5IV DIST. 255.75 PC (834.26 L.Y.)

BU 1148: Not see B; strange since I should be able to.  Maybe something wrong with magnitude measure.
23H 27M 17.22S +65° 37' 15.8" P.A. 76 SEP 2.1 MAG 6.84,12.60 SP K0