My 50th Observation session of the year

Good evening, all.
I did have some doubts about reaching 50 nights of observing in 2015 -but there you go -I made it on Wednesday 11th November. I almost did 4 hours at the telescope which is a 158mm apochromatic refractor with mirror diagonals fitted. My north is up and my east is right. 13 wonderful objects I got through in the time available.

1. Where better to start only with Epsilon Lyrae? All 4 components split at 112X. (10 o'clock and 1 o'clock)
2. A quick peek at low Arcturus low in the west.
3. Then on up to one last look at Izar split at 140X and 167X -glorious orange and blue in the 10 o'clock position.
4. Pi Aquilae barely separated at 112X. More cleanly split at 140X and 167X. (3 o'clock)
5. Rukh (Delta Cygni). Normally I need 140X to see A and B. But for the first time I split at 112X -I was very amazed. The separation is 2.7 arc seconds. Magnitudes 2.7 and 6.3.
6. RZ Pegasi is a carbon star near Pi 1 & 2 Pegasi. I am now noticing that it is getting brighter. It is deep orange in colour and I see its magnitude at +9.6 now. Last month it was +10.3.
7. M2 Globular Cluster in Aquarius. As it was a windy night, I could only get up to 167X magnification; and still I resolved the central stars -very nice.
8. Polaris' B component was at the 11 o'clock position at 7 o'clock in the evening. 40X and 112X.
9. Rasalgethi (Alpha Hercules) looked wondrous in the south western sky. Its lovely rich orange and blue hues were most striking at 140X and 167X.
10. I had not observed Ngc 752 since 10 December 2001. It is a very open cluster in Andromeda -over 70 arc minutes in diameter. This more than double the size of a Full Moon! With my 38mm 2" eyepiece slotted in, it almost fulled the field of view. There are some many stars to look at. Has anyone observed in the past? Some orange stars too.
11. My 34th observed Carbon Star is currently highlighted on www.cloudynights.com . Z Piscium is a decently strong orange at 40X. At present it is bright at magnitude +7.0 which seems to suggest it is quite near its brightest.
12. North of Z Piscium, we have another variable star. RT Piscium is an M class star but it does not have a strong red hue. Very slight red in fact in my 158mm apo. Magnitude +9.0
13. My final object is a goodie. Xi Cephei was highlighted in the Astronomy Now magazine a few months ago. It is a real gem of a double star high in the northern sky. I could just split at 40X; but it came into its own at 112X. Sissy Haas says the stars are yellow and blue. But I think I will have to have another look before I decide. Lovely teardrop effect to this one though. What do others think?
Thank you for reading.

Clear skies,

Aubrey.

Thanks for the report. How do you log your observations as you mentioned one observation back in 2001

Thanks

Stephen

Thank you for your question, Stephen. I have written diaries going back to 1987 when I had a 6" Newtonian. I do recommend this practice of keeping diaries to newcomers who use telescopes for astronomical purposes. It is one good way of keeping note as to what we observe and when and where.
It is also good to have a 2" eyepiece in one's possession to help us enjoy large and wide star clusters such as Ngc 752 and M45 Pleiades. I did not have such an eyepiece during the 1980's.

Aubrey.

Thanks for the report Aubrey and congratulations on achieving such an impressive tally of observing sessions.
I observed NGC 752 once, in 2012, using a 200mm reflector with a wide field eyepiece at 32x. My note was: Not well concentrated, but bright and rich, with one deep yellow star. My note on Xi Cephei, observed about a year ago with a 280mm SCT, was : Brilliant, white star, well separated from a somewhat fainter yellow companion at 215x. Very fine, bright, and easy. I don't know why I used such a high magnification, as you say a relatively low power would be sufficient for this lovely double.

Mike.

Thank you, Mike, for your reply. It seems we both need to have a 2nd look at Xi Cephei. It was a first time observation for me. I believe higher magnifications can sort out colours on double stars.

And I see now that there are at least 3 K class stars associated with NGC 752. They should be all orange. I certainly will observe this cluster again.

Clear skies,

Aubrey.

Hi Aubrey and Mike.

I last observed Xi Cephei on 18/4/07. In my notebook, I recorded;

Beta Cephei - Bright primary with much fainter and smaller secondary. Visible at 80x, but needed 160x to split clearly. Spectacular

Xi Cephei - Similar to Beta, but secondary slightly brighter, with a definite yellow tint, lovely at 160x.

This observation was made with a 6" TAL reflector, although I did not record the eyepiece used. Light pollution was worse than normal.