Uranus and the Garnet star

Good evening all.

Last Friday night 19th December was a clear night in Dublin and I did nearly 3 hours observing with my 6.2" apo. I had fun with 17 spectacular objects -all but one I had observed before.

1. Albireo. What better double star is there to start off with? Split at 11X and 40X.
2. Epsilon Lyrae: double -double at 112X. Who can ever tire from splitting him? And even seeing the extra northerly component
3. Zeta Lyrae: west of Vega, wide white and blue double star split at 11X and 40X.
4. Epsilon Pegasi (Enif): A is 2.5 mag, B is 8.8. It is always good to point the scope at him; we can find M15 quickly nearby.
5. M15 Globular Cluster is wonderfully impressive at 225X. I could see stars resolved all the way to the centre.
6. Zeta Aquarii has a name: Sadaltager. It means "the luck of a merchant". I don't believe in luck personally myself. However it is a brilliant double star. Magnitudes 4.3 and 4.5 -both yellow white and only 2.2" separation. You can find it in the centre of the Y asterism in Aquarius. Split at 112X, 140X, 167X and 225X.
7. M2 Globular Cluster in Aquarius. It was getting a bit low, but I did find even more pleasing to the eye than M15. Central stars resolved at 225X. That 5 mm Nagler is an excellent eyepiece!

I had my dinner then, and out I went again to observe the rest.

8. Mesarthim. (Gamma Arietis). Easily split at 40X.
9. Menkar. (Alpha Ceti). Wide faint companion seen at 40X.
10. But west of Menkar is a challenging double star with the challenging name: Kaffaljidhma, (Gamma Ceti). It took 225X to separate it this time; simply because of the fairly strong wind. A is 3.5 mag, B is 6.2. Separation: 2.1"
11. Down below him is Alpha Piscium. (Alrisha). A is 4.1 mag, B is 5.2. Separation: 1.8" Both white, split at 167X.
12. Zeta Piscium: charmingly split at a mere 11X. A is 5.2 mag, B is 6.3. Separation: 23".
13. Straight down from Delta Piscium (not a double star), I starhopped southwards to the great planet Uranus. It is a lovely bright green disc all the way up to 320X. I have observed him twice in 2014 on either side of our summer.
14. I then headed westwards to one of the brightest carbon stars in the entire sky: TX Piscium. I then wondered if I increased the magnification- would it lose any of its deep orange tint? the simple answer is No! Even at 320X, it is still a wonderful deep orange.
15. 30 Arietis: wide double star split at 11X and 40X. A is 6.5 mag, B is 7, separation: 38".
16. With Cepheus a bit lower in the northwestern sky, I easily found for the first time the Garnet Star. Mu Cephei has a strong orange -red colour. Its current magnitude is about 3.8. It looked delightful at 40X.

Question: What have the Planet Uranus and Mu Cephei got in common?

Answer: Sit William Herschel. He discovered Uranus; plus he named Mu Cephei the Garnet Star. It is great they are both in the evening sky at present.

17. Lastly, I separated Polaris at 40X, and decided to call it a night. I was starting to shiver even with 5 layers on me!

Thank you for reading.

Was anyone else out with a scope?

Aubrey.

Nice report Aubrey.

I was out in my shed this afternoon and noticed a thick pile of dust sitting on a table, :huh: as I cleared some of it away a word began to emerge, "Celestron", it read, I was unfamiliar with this strange word, was it some ancient language, long forgotten? I quickly Googled the word and found that it was the name of a company that manufactured astronomical equipment, as I removed the last of the dust I was looking at a 9.25" SCT and I had a vague memory of this device, I convinced myself that I had used this before, though I could not be sure. Another visit to Google told me a SCT is a type of telescope, :scope: "ah!" I thought, now I remember it. : cheer:

So, to answer your question, Aubrey, no I haven't had the scope out in some time. :laugh:

Paul

Good Grief, Paul. You had me greatly concerned there. Brilliantly told yarn -I like it. I thought something terrible had happened to your Celestron! Amazing, Paul, I have just had to install the name Celestron to the Computer Spelling Dictionary!!! Perhaps it is a strange word after all.

By the way, Met Eireann are promising clear skies for the nights of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

I am not free on Christmas Eve, but I might entertain our visitors on Christmas Night.

Aubrey.

flt158 wrote: By the way, Met Eireann are promising clear skies for the nights of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Should allow us to bag the latest Comet Lovejoy, esp. with moonlight becoming an issue next week.

Very nice report Aubrey. A good variety of objects, all impressive visual targets, with some star lore and a dash of astronomical history thrown in.

Thanks and Happy Christmas to you and Valerie. Hope 2015 is as good an observing year as 2014 seems to have been for you.

Mike

2014 has been my best year with any telescope so far. I have observed with my apo on 58 occasions. I hope to make it to 60 before the end of the year. Thank you, Mike, for your Christmas greetings. The same to you and yours for 2015!

Aubrey.