Observations - 19th April 2020

Until_then-Goodnight! wrote: Hi Aubrey,

Brilliant reporting from you as always. Sounds like you had your 'Weetabix' yesterday! Very well done on observing seven new doubles - in one night too - wow!

Very many thanks for the details on Castor. The red star among the white ones sounds lovely. So, I must try take a look at them. Also, very well done, on splitting Stf 1093 - that must have felt great.

It will be interesting to read future reports on Gamma Virginis to find out how it affects what you do at the eyepiece.

The most interesting point I read from your observational report was observing Venus at 6pm - amazing!

Clear skies,

Darren.

BTW, sorry to read about your printer Aubrey, hopefully you'll be back up and running soon enough.

I will always recommend Castor and Porrima to anyone, Darren. 
Algieba is also a glorious binary too. 

Clear skies from Aubrey.  

Quite a lot of action out there... half a dozen starlinks ranging from around mag 3.5 up to the brightness of Denebola, and one not far off matching Regulus. This last one seemed to be accompanied by a fainter companion moving parallel to the south. Another bright object appeared near Alphard at the predicted position of the Lacrosse 5 satellite and seemed to exceed the forecast mag of 1.4. Also a flare-like flash of less than a second directly overhead, possibly a Lyrid seen head-on. All within half an hour....

Finbarr.

It seems you are also having a "whale" of a time, Finbarr.
I'm so glued to the eyepiece I don't get to see the Starlinks spacecraft at all. Lacrosse 5 I have seen in the past.
Maybe the reason it does brighten is because of its solar panel(s) having its light bouncing off the Sun.

I will have a report tomorrow as to what I did observe on Monday night.

Are the clear skies going to continue for an indefinite period?
Surely not!

Aubrey.

Hi Aubrey and Finbarr,

I've just finished-up after a great session tonight. Observations last just under two hours (23:20 - 01:15 IST). I spotted one of those star links this evening when setting up my scope, and I believe I also saw that 'flare-like flash' you mention Finbarr but that was a bit later. 

Following on from your suggestion Aubrey, I observed Porrima, but I was unable to split it. In saying that I did observe a most beautiful double star tonight. It looked very much like a miniature version of Alberio in terms of the colours. I am not sure of its name. It seemed to form a equilateral triangle with the stars Muphrid and Vindemiatrix. I'm afraid I cannot do any better than that tonight. However, I'll attempt to observe it again at the next opportunity, and I'll aim to have a more accurate location.

I also spent a great deal of time revisiting Arcturus, M3, M53 again, and the two asterisms I viewed last week, particularly the hatchet shaped one. I find this a really useful starting point for star-hopping to M3, and M53.

In terms of the globular clusters, M3, looked much better tonight. Using several different eyepieces, the best view was to be had at 96X (25mm with 2X Barlow). The core was bright, and I managed to resolve some of the outer stars in the cluster. M53, was considerably fainter, and I failed to resolve any stars there.

To finish the evening I viewed TYC2590-1034-1 and  TYC2590-299-1 in Hercules. They looked like a double star, but I have since discovered they're not a true double - is that correct? I decided to leave M13 - got to leave something good for the next night out!

All the best, and long may these clear skies last,

Darren.

What a brilliant time you had on 20th April, Darren!

I am utterly surprised you could not split Porrima. How unfortunate that is!
Next time you might just make sure you have the correct star. It's the star at the centre of the "Y" of Virgo.

Please do check out that lookalike of Albireo you found. We would all be delighted to know what it was.

M3 and M53 are magnificent globular star clusters alright. Well done on locating them both.

Sadly I'm in the dark regarding those last 2 TYC stars. Guide 9.1 DVD places them both in Pisces. I'm sure there is an explanation somewhere.

There will be plenty of time to study M13 throughout the summer. M92 is another bright globular in Hercules.

Great report, Darren.
Please keep busy by providing many more reports each day on www.irishastronomy.org

I am now setting up my scope to repeat what I observed on Monday night.
I will definitely come back here tomorrow to share my findings. ES Lyn was found last night. Whoo hoo!

Clear skies,

Aubrey.

Until_then-Goodnight! wrote:  To finish the evening I viewed TYC2590-1034-1 and  TYC2590-299-1 in Hercules.

That seems to be quite a nice optical double Darren, although faint. In the same fov as epsilon Herculis but according to Simbad some 12 light years apart, so definitely not a double if those figures are accurate.

Finbarr.