My 50th Observation session of the year

Good evening, Stevie.
Welcome to the Xi Cephei club. Component A is +4.5, B is +6.4. The separation has been increasing from 8.2" in 2000 to 8.4" now according to stelledoppie,goaction.it
I had too many passing rain showers to further study my latest favourite double star tonight Friday.
Typical Irish weather!

Kind regards,
Aubrey.

Cepheus contains many attractive doubles. Here are some of my favourites. Cheers, Mike.

Name: STF2872 A,BC; Mag1: 7.14; Mag2: 7.98; Sep: 21.6"
Name: STF2872 BC; Mag1: 7.98; Mag2: 8; Sep: 0.8"
Type: Multpl; RA Dec: 220836+5917
ID: WDS22086+5917
Date: 2014-11-23; Telescope: 280mm SCT; Eyepiece: 8mm Hyperion; Magnification: 350x.
Observations: Very fine pair of almost equally bright, white stars, with just a hint of yellow, nicely separated at 50X. At 350X, the western component is just resolved into two almost identical stars, split by a hair in moments of good seeing. Superb, difficult, triple.
Date: 2014-10-11; Telescope: 280mm SCT; Eyepiece: 55mm TV Plossl; Magnification: 51x.
Observations: Despite the listed magnitude difference, these two white stars appeared almost identical to me. A nice bright pair, well separated at 50X. There are many faint stars in the field, with several bright ones at the very edge of the fov of the Plossl.

Name: STF2896 AB; Mag1: 7.8; Mag2: 8.57; Sep: 21.6"
Type: Dbl; RA Dec: 221828+6313
ID: WDS22185+6313
Date: 2014-10-11; Telescope: 280mm SCT; Eyepiece: 55mm TV Plossl; Magnification: 51x.
Observations: Mildly unequal pair of yellowish star, quite bright, and well separated at 50X. It lies on the brim of a 'witches hat' asterism that looks like it ought to be listed as a cluster.
Date: 2014-11-23; Telescope: 280mm SCT; Eyepiece: 55mm TV Plossl; Magnification: 51x.
Observations: Nice pair of yellowish stars, mildly unequal and well separated at 50X. The witch's hat asterism is quite distinct, though the stars making up the eastern end of the brim are very faint.

Name: ο Cep AB; Mag1: 4.97; Mag2: 7.28; Sep: 4.4"
Type: Dbl; RA Dec: 231837+6806
ID: WDS23186+6807
Date: 2014-11-23; Telescope: 280mm SCT; Eyepiece: 21mm Hyperion; Magnification: 133x.
Observations: Gorgeous, bright, yellow star, closely accompanied at 133X by a fainter golden companion. Beautiful sight, in a sparse field.

Name: STF2984 AB; Mag1: 7.63; Mag2: 9.82; Sep: 4.4"
Type: Dbl; RA Dec: 230722+7039
ID: WDS23074+7040
Date: 2014-11-23; Telescope: 280mm SCT; Eyepiece: 21mm Hyperion; Magnification: 133x.
Observations: Bright, orange star, attractively close to a much fainter version of itself in a field sprinkled with faint stars. Lovely, deeply coloured, pair.

Name: ξ Cep AB; Mag1: 4.4; Mag2: 6.4; Sep: 8.1"
Type: Dbl; RA Dec: 220347+6437
ID: WDS22038+6438
Date: 2014-11-03; Telescope: 280mm SCT; Eyepiece: 13mm Hyperion; Magnification: 215x.
Observations: Brilliant, white star, well separated from a somewhat fainter yellow companion at 215x. Very fine, bright, and easy.

Name: STF2816 AD; Mag1: 5.73; Mag2: 7.53; Sep: 19.8"
Name: STF2816 AC; Mag1: 5.73; Mag2: 7.48; Sep: 11.8"
Type: Multpl; RA Dec: 213858+5729
ID: WDS21390+5729
Date: 2014-11-03; Telescope: 280mm SCT; Eyepiece: 13mm Hyperion; Magnification: 215x.
Observations: Beautiful triple of bright, pale yellow stars.
Date: 2014-10-11; Telescope: 280mm SCT; Eyepiece: 55mm TV Plossl; Magnification: 51x.
Observations: Beautiful triple of white stars, the bright primary in between two fainter, almost identical, companions. STF2819 is just 12' ENE and both systems are nicely resolved at 50X..
Date: 2012-08-26; Telescope: 200 f/5 Reflector; Eyepiece: 10mm Plossl; Magnification: 100x.
Observations: Pretty white/white/bluish triple, all nicely separated.

Name: STF2819 AB; Mag1: 7.44; Mag2: 8.64; Sep: 12.8"
Type: Dbl; RA Dec: 214021+5734
ID: WDS21404+5735
Date: 2014-10-11; Telescope: 280mm SCT; Eyepiece: 55mm TV Plossl; Magnification: 51x.
Observations: Mildly unequal pair of yellow stars nicely separated at 50X and pointing toward the beautiful nearby triple STF2816. The field is very rich, though the faint stars of IC1396 are not really apparent against the light pollution.
Date: 2012-08-26; Telescope: 200 f/5 Reflector; Eyepiece: 10mm Plossl; Magnification: 100x.
Observations: White/white pair, nicely separated.
Date: 2012-08-11; Telescope: 200 f/5 Reflector; Eyepiece: 10mm Plossl; Magnification: 100x.
Observations: Relatively faint wide double.

Name: STF2893 AB; Mag1: 6.19; Mag2: 7.91; Sep: 28.7"
Type: Dbl; RA Dec: 221253+7318
ID: WDS22129+7318
Date: 2014-10-11; Telescope: 280mm SCT; Eyepiece: 55mm TV Plossl; Magnification: 51x.
Observations: Attractive colour contrast pair, with a bright yellow primary and a fainter bluish secondary, wide at 50X.. The field is sparse except for an arc of fainter stars sweeping away to the NW, which adds to the visual impact of the double.

Name: STF2840 AB; Mag1: 5.64; Mag2: 6.42; Sep: 17.7"
Type: Dbl; RA Dec: 215201+5547
ID: WDS21520+5548
Date: 2014-10-11; Telescope: 280mm SCT; Eyepiece: 55mm TV Plossl; Magnification: 51x.
Observations: A pair of bright, bluish stars, slightly unequal, nicely separated at 50X.

Name: STF2860 AB; Mag1: 7.91; Mag2: 9.23; Sep: 13"
Type: Dbl; RA Dec: 220314+6050
ID: WDS22033+6051
Date: 2014-10-11; Telescope: 280mm SCT; Eyepiece: 55mm TV Plossl; Magnification: 51x.
Observations: Deep orange primary, with a fainter bluish secondary, nicely separated at 50X, and set in the middle of a 'bowl' of brighter field stars. Attractive, but a little faint.

Name: STF2883 AB; Mag1: 5.56; Mag2: 8.56; Sep: 14.5"
Type: Dbl; RA Dec: 221039+7007
ID: WDS22106+7008
Date: 2014-10-11; Telescope: 280mm SCT; Eyepiece: 55mm TV Plossl; Magnification: 51x.
Observations: Brilliant primary that has a delicate hint of yellow, nicely split at 50x from a fainter secondary with a deep yellow colour. The double is set in a rich field containing some super wide doubles.

Name: Alfirk, β Cep AB; Mag1: 3.2; Mag2: 7.8; Sep: 13.4"
Type: Multpl; RA Dec: 212840+7033
ID: WDS21287+7034
Date: 2014-10-11; Telescope: 280mm SCT; Eyepiece: 55mm TV Plossl; Magnification: 51x.
Observations: Magnificent white star, nicely separated from a much fainter bluish secondary at 50X. Beautiful combination.
Date: 2012-08-10; Telescope: 200 f/5 Reflector; Eyepiece: 10mm Plossl; Magnification: 100x.
Observations: Brilliant white primary with well separated secondary (at 100X) that shows a hint of blue.
See Jim Kaler’s description of this interesting system at stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/alfirk.html

Name: Herschel's Garnet Star; Mag1: 3.4; Mag2: 5.1
Type: Var Star; RA Dec: 214331+5846
ID: VSX9069
Date: 2012-08-11; Telescope: 200 f/5 Reflector; Eyepiece: 10mm Plossl; Magnification: 100x.
Observations: Lovely deep orange bright star in a rich field.
This is one of the largest and most luminous stars in the galaxy, see Jim Kaler’s description at stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/garnet.html

Name: δ Cep AC; Mag1: 4.21; Mag2: 6.11; Sep: 40.9"
Type: Dbl; RA Dec: 222910+5824
ID: WDS22292+5825
Date: 2012-08-11; Telescope: 200 f/5 Reflector; Eyepiece: 10mm Plossl; Magnification: 100x.
Observations: Pretty, yellow/bluish double widely separated at 100X.
The primary is the prototype of the “Cepheid” variables which have played a key role in estimating distances across the universe. refer to Jim Kaler at stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/deltacep.html

Herschel's Garnet star surely does it for me. Earlier in 2015, I did give an estimate on the AAVSO website.
By the way, I do know of its Mu Cephei designation. However I do like that other name Erakis. It sounds like the type of name you would hear on Doctor Who! Maybe the name of a sci-fi planet.

Cepheus is a very popular constellation for finding other double stars alright.

Kind regards,

Aubrey.