Observations - 11/08/21

Hello everyone. 

At last I can safely state I had a magnificent time of observing on Wednesday night 11th August 2021 after a long period of some weeks. My Bortle 5 location was the Sugarloaf Mountain in County Wicklow, Ireland and my 11 year old William Optics 158mm F/7 apochromatic refractor which was placed on my trusty Berlebach Planet altazimuth mount was in full flight once again. A mirror diagonal is fitted at all times. 

Seeing conditions were not good while I was observing Venus, the 3.3 old crescent Moon and Jupiter - although the 4 moons looked good with Io and Ganymede both quite close to the western side of the largest planet. The highest magnification I used on Jupiter was 112X. I could see the North Equatorial Belt was good and strong. Everything else sadly was a blur. It would be very good to see the planet again at some stage. Right now its magnitude is a whopping -2.9. Its distance was 602,000,000 kilometres from Earth. Its angular diameter was 49”.   

I had a slightly better time with Saturn. It is considerably fainter at +0.2 in magnitude. Its distance is 1,338,700,000 kms from Earth. At 40X I could see the rings and Titan. But at 112X, 140X and 167X I could just about see the south pole of the planet “sticking” out below the front section of the rings. Also Rhea and Tethys came into view. But there was no sign of Dione. 

Then I was off to Cassiopeia. I should say at this point that my north is upper right and my east is lower right. 

1. BU 108 is a nice true binary extremely close to the 4.2 magnitude star Kappa Cassiopeiae. Magnitudes: A = 7.8. B = 10.6. Sep = 4.5”. PA = 6˚. I achieved a nice clear split at 112X. The 2 white stars look nice at 140X too. 

I have read in the past some reports regarding the 3 open star clusters near Kappa Cassiopeiae on various websites including www.cloudynights.com , which have the designations NGC 133, King 14 and NGC 146. I was soon to discover I could just about fit all 3 with Kappa Cas in the same 37’ field of view at 112X. 

2. The first one I greatly admired was NGC 133 with its 5 bright stars of magnitude 10. It definitely has a stunning curling shape with quite a good richness.

3. The second open cluster, which is called King 14, is considerably fainter. It is to the lower left of NGC 133 and its brightest star is magnitude 10. But King 14’s richness became very evident the longer I observed it. Perfect for a Bortle 5 location.

4. The third open cluster NGC 146 is to the lower right of NGC 133. It’s not terribly bright, but its one redeeming feature is a delightful, though uncertain, double star HJ 1033 within it. John Herschel discovered both the cluster and the double star. The magnitudes of HJ 1033 are: A = 10. B = 10. Sep = 7”. PA = 224˚. To see these 2 dim stars side by side brought great joy to my heart. I consider it rather strange they are not a definite true binary. But there we go. I must ask an all important question regarding this open cluster with the designation King 14: who is Mr. King? I will be delighted to know. Can anyone help me out? Thank you!

5. It’s great to be back finding carbon stars in Cassiopeia. Case 31, as Simbad calls it, has alternative designations C*9, GSC 04023-00298 and 3UC 308-008181. Its spectral class is C6. Its magnitude is 11.2. The Right Ascension is 00h 17m 17.7”. The Declination is +63 degrees 49m 22.6”. Star hopping to Case 31 proved quite a test to yours truly from Kappa Cassiopeiae. When I found the 8.8 magnitude G8 yellow star TYC 4023 654 I knew I was quite close to getting to Case 31. The all-important 10.3 magnitude star TYC 4023 364 I successfully latched unto and it proved vital. That’s because Case 31 is 1.4’ to its west. I first observed the carbon at 112X. But it was only at 280X could I see it is quite an intense orange star, and I would have to say I had to use averted vision to see the colour or Case 31. Still I was very pleased to have spotted my 19th carbon star in Cassiopeia. It’s my 105th overall. 

Thank you for reading my latest report. 

Comments, corrections and images are all very welcome. 

Clear skies from Aubrey.  

Hello Aubrey,

I was looking forward to reading your report, and it sure has put a smile on face. Your notes on Saturn were great. As for those three open star clusters - wow! I remember you showing them to me, and your description of them is spot on! 

It was great seeing you and Valerie again - here's to many more observational sessions over the coming months my friend.

Clear skies,

Darren.

who is Mr. King?

He is E.S. King of Harvard Observatory, and his double star list dates from 1928 Aubrey.

Finbarr.

Wow! Finbarr. Excellent!

His full name was Edward Skinner King. 
He died on the 10th September 1931 aged 70 years. 

Thank you very much, Finbarr. 

Clear skies from Aubrey. 

Hello again, everyone. 

I have just found out what that double star near Saturn is. 
It's the true binary Omicron Capricorni. Magnitudes: A = 5.9. B = 6.7. Sep = 22". PA = 239 degrees. It was effortlessly split at 40X with my scope. It's less than 4 degrees from Saturn these nights. The primary has a spectral class of K3. The secondary's spectral class is B9.5. Therefore the colours are yellow-orange and blue-white. I believe it was Darren who pointed out the yellow-orange colour of the primary. Great catch, Darren! I separated this double way back in the 1990's. Gasp! 

Very best regards from Aubrey. 

Hello Finbarr. 

I'm sorry about this, but it appears we have a discrepancy. 
King 14 wasn't discovered by Edward Skinner King after all. 
A certain Ivan Robert King was the man who discovered it. 
He was born in 1927 and hails from California - where it never rains . 
And amazingly he is still alive today in 2021!

He must eat lots of fish!! 

Best regards, 

Aubrey.