Observations - 23/09/21

I have 5 more doubles in Cassiopeia to check out. 
And some of them are going to be rather difficult to split. 

Clear skies, Darren!

Aubrey. 

Well, good man Aubrey!

Having just returned from the back garden all I can say is 'thank you'.

Thank you because I split both Iota Cassiopeiae and Psi Cassiopeiae tonight. Needless to say, I am absolutely chuffed. What made tonight's session extra nice was how the conditions improved over a two hour period.

For example, at approximately, 20:30UT+1 I attempted to split Iota Cas. While I managed to see two stars - the primary and 'C' star,  the 'B' star was not to be seen at either 139X, or 250X. However, just before 22:00UT+1 the 'B' component revealed herself to me at 250X. When I first saw all three stars through the eyepiece I said 'Brilliant' as I was delighted that I managed to split all three stars. As you might recall I've had difficulty in past trying to split stars - Porrima comes to mind - do you remember that?

In terms of the colour of each star, I thought 'A' was a bright white, while the 'B' and 'C' showed the slightest hue of orange to me; with the 'C' star being ever so slightly darker. To help me locate Iota Cas I star-hopped from 'Segin' through to 52 Cas, then on to 55 Cas before arriving at Iota Cas - I really love star-hopping!

And you were dead right about Psi Cassiopeiae - it is magnificent! While, I managed to see three stars, which I believe are the same ones you observed, I think I prefer Iota Cas. I think I prefer Iota Cas because of the fun I had trying to locate it, and then only getting to split it on my second attempt. You could say that I had to work hard to see it in all it's glory. So, the extra effort with finding it and spliting it made it all the more special. Alos, I understand that there is even more to Iota Cas than I saw tonight. While reading around about each of your two wonderful stars I came across this piece:

stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/iotacas.html

So, it seems that there are five stars to be seen - wow!   

Before finishing up for the evening I had a quick look at M31, NGC 457, and my favourite cluster(s) NGC 869 & 884. Oh, I forgot to mention, that as I was setting up my scope I caught the ISS as it flew over Dublin. Something tells me that tonight's session will make it on to my top observations for 2021.

Once again a big thank you my friend.

Clear skies, and I hope you manged to bag those five stars you were after.

All the best,

Darren.

Great job, Darren! 
I knew you would greatly appreciate both Iota and Psi Cassiopeiae. 
They are both celestial wonders in the big "W". 

I forget - have you observed Achird (Eta Cassiopeiae)?
You probably have. 
I wonder what colours you saw. 

Clear skies from your pal Aubrey.  

Hi Aubrey, 

Very many thanks for your message. I've had more of a fleeting glance at Achird, so I'll take a proper look at it next night I'm out. 

I just noticed that most of an earlier message on this thread seems to have only saved a fraction of the original. In the message when I say 'I hear you about meteorologists'. I also mentioned that I'm available to observe most of this week... Do you think there could be a meet up taking place? 

Clear skies to you, 

Darren. 

Hello everyone including Darren. 

We all should head to the Sugarloaf car park on Friday night.
www.met.ie are promising clear skies. 

Have we anyone interested?
Darren and I are very interested!!

Clear skies from Aubrey. 

 

Good morning Aubrey, 

I am afraid to say that I'm out for tomorrow. I injured my leg last night (torn hamstring), so I'd be in no physical state to make it down to the Sugarloaf. Very disappointed as you can imagine  ​​​​​​. 

Hopefully, the tear will heal relatively quickly... Fingers crossed! 

If there is a group heading down I'll be looking forward to reading about what you observe though. 

Clear skies, 

Darren.