Hi, everyone.
That heading should read more fully: 2 carbon stars, 2 double stars, 2 double -double stars and 2 Iridium flares.
This is what I got up to on Wednesday night with my 158 mm apo.
1. The first double -double was Epsilon Lyrae. All 4 components were split at 112X, 140X and 167X.
2. The second double double, also in Lyra, was Stf 2470 and Stf 2474. All 4 of its components split at an even easier 40X.
3. The first deep orange carbon star was HK Lyrae. It is variable and I have estimated its magnitude on the AAVSO website at 8.2.
4. The second even deeper orange carbon star was nearby T Lyrae. Back in time on the 16th December 2000, this mighty little gem was my first ever carbon star. Last night, I estimated its magnitude at 8.1. Both these carbon are within 5 degrees of Vega. So there are easy to star hop to.
My 2 double stars I wish to mention are Izar (Epsilon Bootis) and a new double star in Lyra -Stf 2362.
5. I was pleased to just about split Izar at 112X. But more satisfying was separating it at 140X and 167X. I could make out very slightly its orange and blue colours. B was in the 10 o'clock position.
6. Stf 2362 I found by accident while I was studying the area around Vega on Guide 8. It is quite faint. A is 7.5, B is 8.7. The separation is 4.4" and the PA is 187 degrees. I was delighted to see both components at 40X easily separated. 112X split them too much.
My 2 Iridium Flares were 10 minutes apart and both occurred in the western sky
7. Iridium 19 flared at 23.28. Maybe there was a high cloud -it was supposed to be magnitude -5.9. It looked more like -1 to me.
8. However, Iridium 34 at 23.38 pulled out all the stops: its magnitude was -5.7 or maybe it was even brighter.
All in all, I did enjoy myself on Wednesday night.
Did anyone else do some observing last night?
Thank you for reading and clear skies to all.
Aubrey.
  