8 Doubles + 2 triples in Cassiopeia

Good evening, one and all.
Monday night 9th December 2019 was a gloriously clear with no wind on the east coast of Ireland with very good seeing in my Bortle 8 or 9 in my back garden.
So I set up my William Optics 158 mm apochromatic refractor and the William Optics 70 mm on the Berlebach Planet altazimuth tripod good and early. Mirror diagonals are fitted to both scopes.

Sunset occurred at 16.06 local time.

Before I get to Cassiopeia, I did find Vega at 16.15 high in the western sky. Then I split Epsilon 1,2 Lyrae almost directly above Vega into 4 components at 112X at 16.20. Even at that time, Vega was still invisible! Lastly at 16.45 I could see Polaris A and B at 40X and 112X.
Now onto Cassiopeia. And I was specifically observing near the south eastern corner of the great W.
Each of the figures come from www.stelledoppie.it
1. Iota Cassiopeiae was wonderfully split at 112X as usual. The magnitudes are 4.6, 6.9 and 9.1. The separations are 2.6" & 6.7". The PA's are 227 and 117 degrees. Both A and B are white. C is blue - white.
2. ARY 35 is easily split at 40X. The magnitudes are the other way round. 8.2 & 7.6. The separation is a whopping 115.4". The PA is 133 degrees. It is a handy optical double as it leads me to other doubles. ARY stands for R.W. Argyle. The colours are blue - white and white.
3. Stf 282 is supremely tight at 40X. Both stars are almost identical in magnitude. I have rounded them to 9.5. The separation is 6.7". The PA is 295 degrees. They both "point" upwards in my eyepieces. 112X is very good too.The primary is yellow. B is white. It is a true binary.
4. CTT 3 is easily split at 40X. The magnitudes are 7.8 & 8.3. The separation is 88.1". The PA is 88 degrees. Both stars are white. It is an optical double. CTT stands for J.-F. Courtot.
5. STTA 28 is also easily split at 40X. The magnitudes are 6.6 & 7.6. The separation is 67.9". The PA is 148 degrees. A is blue white. B is white. It is a true binary.
6. HJ 1122 is a difficult split at 40X. Hard concentration is required. It is much better at 112X. The magnitudes are 9.6 & 10.3. The separation is 10.2". The PA is 217 degrees. It is a true binary.
7. Stf 302 is only magnificent!. The magnitudes are 7.5 & 10.4. The separation is 5.3". The PA is 170 degrees. Surprisingly it might not be a true binary. The A star is blue - white. I got a tight split at 112X. The B star looks like a divot.
8. Stf 284 is a reasonably difficult triple at 40X. The magnitudes are 7.9, 9.9 & 10.5. The separation are 6.9" and 53.1". The PA's are 191 and 10 degrees. 112X makes matters much better. All 3 stars are optical.The primary is blue - white. The other 2 stars are white.
9. Stf 283 is another magnificent showpiece!. The magnitudes are 8.4 & 9. The separation is 1.8". The PA is 210 degrees. The G8 primary is a very rich yellow. B is white. I did split it at 112X and 140X. But I noticed how good the colour of that primary was at 167X. Give it a go!
10. And so after such a memorable night I was very keen to finish with a carbon star. V623 Cassiopeiae is extremely close to the Cassiopeia - Perseus - Camelopardalis border. It is near its maximum brightness right now. I recorded its magnitude of 7.8 on www.aavso.org . I consider it a bright and good orange star. The spectral class is R5. And it is my 75th observed carbon star.

Thank you for reading.
Comments are always welcome.

Clear skies,

Aubrey.

How close does the separation have to be to still count as an optical double Aubrey? Some of those examples above are nearly 2 arcminutes which sounds excessively wide to me. Also surprising how many observers have managed to get their names into the double star catalogues, even into the 20th century. I would have thought one all-sky photographic survey might have uncovered all the examples down to whatever minimum magnitude was selected.

Clear skies,
Finbarr.

Hi Aubrey,

Very many thanks for another detailed report.  As I was unable to take advantage of our recent clear skies it was great being able to read what you observed on Monday night. Let's hope we can get a few more clear nights over the coming weeks.

It seems that you're doing well observing carbon stars Aubrey - that's two observed in recent weeks, right? And the bright orange colour of V623 Cassiopeiae sounds delightful. Next to a white, or blue coloured star the contrast must have been something else. 


Also, good job finding Vega at 16:15, that must have been a challenge! As mentioned to you recently, Lyra is my favourite constellation. I will always try to have a look at it whenever it is dark and sky is clear. 

Thanks again for your report. They always send me off on an adventure to learn out more about some of the objects you've observed.

Clear skies,

Darren.

Fermidox wrote: How close does the separation have to be to still count as an optical double Aubrey? Some of those examples above are nearly 2 arcminutes which sounds excessively wide to me. Also surprising how many observers have managed to get their names into the double star catalogues, even into the 20th century. I would have thought one all-sky photographic survey might have uncovered all the examples down to whatever minimum magnitude was selected.

Clear skies,
Finbarr.

I completely agree with you, Finbarr. 
This is what I said over on www.cloudynights.com regarding mysterious designations. 

"I do find it quite confounding as to why these 2 double stars which are completely optical are getting onto any double star list. ARY 35 has magnitudes 8.2 and 7.6. The separation is a whopping 115.4". The PA is 133 degrees. CTT 3 has magnitudes 7.8 and 8.3. The separation is a bit tighter at 88.1". The PA is 88 degrees. Okay - it is advantageous to find them both. After all they did guide me to other nice doubles that are in the area. However it might be the case they are good for owners of small telescopes or binoculars."

So there we have it, Finbarr. 

Maybe I have found the widest optical double in the entire sky!!! Lol lol lol !!

I believe Argyle might have been Scottish. 
Courtot was definitely French. 
Perhaps they were eccentric men. Lol.   

Until_then-Goodnight! wrote: Hi Aubrey,

Very many thanks for another detailed report.  As I was unable to take advantage of our recent clear skies it was great being able to read what you observed on Monday night. Let's hope we can get a few more clear nights over the coming weeks.

It seems that you're doing well observing carbon stars Aubrey - that's two observed in recent weeks, right? And the bright orange colour of V623 Cassiopeiae sounds delightful. Next to a white, or blue coloured star the contrast must have been something else. 


Also, good job finding Vega at 16:15, that must have been a challenge! As mentioned to you recently, Lyra is my favourite constellation. I will always try to have a look at it whenever it is dark and sky is clear. 

Thanks again for your report. They always send me off on an adventure to learn out more about some of the objects you've observed.

Clear skies,

Darren.

Thank you very much for your comments, Darren. 
I did truly have an extraordinary early evening's viewing. 
Apologies, but I have recently observed 3 carbon stars. 
X Cassiopeiae, ST Cassiopeiae, and now, V623 Cassiopeiae. 

Can I ask you if you are planning on going to the Stars and Mince Pies evening on Friday night?
I personally would love to introduce you to my wife. 
She has seen 9 Total Solar Eclipses. 

Clear skies, 

Aubrey. 

Hi Aubrey, 

Ah yes, ST Cassiopeiae -  I forgot about that one - thanks for jogging my memory!

I'm looking forward to attending Friday's event. I had hoped my wife and kids were going to join me, but bedtime routines have to be adhered to at the moment, so it will be just me. Delighted to hear you'll be there Aubrey, and it'll be great meeting your wife on the night. As they say, 'behind every strong man, there's a stronger woman'. 

Kindest regards, and see you Friday! 

Darren.