Wow! A clear night. Drop everything – get out with the telescope immediately – if not sooner!!
I had the usual scope out in its usual spot.
Well - it wasn’t a clear sky until after 6pm, but at least it did clear eventually.
I didn’t have to have my warmest garments on but I wore my warm hat. Temperatures were a lowly 4˚C with minimum wind.
As the sky was attempting to clear before 6pm, I could see Vega and 2 of its optical companions close by. Then Epsilon Lyrae was beautifully split into 4 components at a mere 112x with the 5th star easily seen. I figured Zeta Lyrae was sporting yellow-white and blue white colours.
Deneb (Alpha Cygni) broke through the heavy clouds. And I thought I ought to revisit Delta Cygni (Rukh) which is nearby. I got and excellent separation at 167x, but I was soon to discover I had a good split at 140x and again at 112x. But 140x was most delightful with my TMB 8mm eyepiece.
6.30pm arrived and the sky seemed to be very clear. I had planned all along to observe some doubles in the opposite part in the sky – near true south. I had prepared a map of a section in Aries.
1. Where else to start? Gamma Arietis (Mesarthim). Even at 40x the 2 main components were both so serenely beautiful split with a 3rd star some distance away. No need to go higher.
2. I had a tough time with the true binary Epsilon Arietis. Seeing conditions were making this double absolute mush. But with my Nagler 5mm eyepiece I could see the 2 stars poorly split at 225x. I normally split it at 167x. I will have to try again under better conditions. Magnitudes: A = 5.2. B = 5.6. Sep = 1.3”. PA = 210˚. Both stars pure white.
3. STF 300 I have observed before some years ago. What a true beauty it is! Magnitudes: A = 7.9. B = 8.1. Sep = 3.1”. PA = 350˚. My WO refractor was trying to separate it at 40x. But how sweet it looked at 112x. Maybe these 2 stars are travelling through space side by side what some astronomers call CPM (Common Proper Motion). Feel free to discuss. It's another uncertain double.
These next few are first time observations.
4. STF 46 proved quite a challenge. It’s a true binary. Magnitudes: A = 6.8. B = 10.8. Sep = 4.8”. PA = 75˚. It looked reasonably good separated at 167x – as 112x was not fully sufficient to see the secondary at all well.
5. BU 262 looked very good at 167x and even better at 225x. Magnitudes: A = 8.2. B = 9.9. Sep = 1.7”. PA = 50˚. Yellow and white to me. Stelle Doppie says it’s an uncertain double.
6. I wanted to observe the optical double star BU 307 for no other reason other than it is included in Burnham’s handbook. Magnitudes: A = 7.1. B = 11.6. Sep = 16”. PA = 317˚. But what a difficult time seeing the secondary. I had no sight of it at 112x. And even at 140x and 167x I was getting very intermittent glimpses of B.
7. Lastly I noticed a faint double star called KU 77 on Stelle Doppie. Magnitudes: A = 9.9. B = 10.5. Sep = 36”. PA = 175˚. Figuring out the location of this double at 40x was not too easy. There were so many field stars. I found a faint double – but wait a minute! There is another double further north. So which one was KU 77? After much concentration I was certain the more northern double was indeed KU 77. Phew! The other “double” has no designation at all. With 112x I got a good view of it. But I then noticed 40x was perfectly sufficient to see the 2 stars of KU 77 fully split. At no time could I see any colour.
Thank you for reading my report.
Sadly we have rain occurring over the next number of days.
Therefore - could 23rd December be my last observing session of 2021?
All in all I have had a wonderful year of observing a total of precisely 60 observing sessions.
Clear skies wherever you are,
Aubrey.
Last edit: 2 years 11 months ago by flt158.
The following user(s) said Thank You: michael_murphy
Greetings from Castlecomer, and very many thanks for sending us the person who is associated with the KU designations.
Your details about Aries make sense now - I haven't observed in it because the lack of star clusters. And like you, galaxies are hard to spot from back garden.
