Observations - 29/09/22

Hello everyone. 

I seemed to have a decent observing night on Thursday 29th September 2022. 
At first the seeing conditions were appalling. 
But over time they steadily improved. 
As ever I was in my back garden with my William Optics 158mm f/7 apochromatic refractor and the WO 70mm f/6 small apo attached. Both scopes are supported by a Berlebach Planet altazimuth mount. 
The light wind was dying all the time to a complete calm as the night continued. Dew was never far away, but it wasn’t too bad. The air temperature was a steady 7˚ Celsius. 
Mirror diagonals are fitted to both scopes as per usual.  

1. With Vega high in the sky, I began with Epsilon Lyrae. All 4 stars separated at 112x and 140x. The double-double always seems to look magnificent at such medium powers. Could it be because all 4 stars are white? 

2. Very nearby we have Zeta Lyrae. I always have fun sorting out its colours. The magnitudes are 4.3 and 5.6. The separation is 43.7”. Position Angle (PA) = 150˚. There is no problem seeing the 2 stars at 11x with the WO small apo. But in the main scope at powers 40x, 112x and 140x I figured that the colours were gold-white and blue-white this time. 

3. I could see Polaris with my own eyes. These nights the 9th magnitude companion is in the 11 o’clock position at 22.15 Irish Summer Time. Seen at 112x. 

4. I then headed over to Cassiopeia. As usual I started with Schedar (Alpha Cassiopeiae) and my favourite 4th magnitude double star Achird (Eta Cassiopeiae). While I was observing the latter, my sky conditions greatly improved. 

5. So I went up to those 2 doubles STF 38 and BU 1096 I had observed before. There are not quite a double-double. That’s because there is a “rogue” star between. I was pleased to notice I could fit in both doubles in the same fov at 112x using my Pentax 10mm eyepiece. Here are the figures: STF 38. Magnitudes: A = 8.7. B = 9. Sep = 17.1”. PA = 144˚. Both stars are white. BU 1096. Magnitudes: A = 8.8. C = 9.7. Sep = 35.5”. PA = 241˚. This time I could see that the primary is a K2 orange star. 

6. There are some quite bright stars guiding me to an extremely faint double. STI 1385 is an optical double. Magnitudes: A = 10.9. B = 11. Sep = 4.7”. PA = 341˚. Using averted vision I was barely seeing these 2 stars at 167x. But out came my 225x, 280x and 320x eyepieces and I could see the 2 stars directly. I was delighted to say the least. STI stands for Johan Stein. He was a Roman Catholic priest from the Netherlands and lived from 1871 to 1951. He discovered more than 2000 double stars.  

7. It was very important I observed STI 1385. That’s because I was on the hunt for a carbon star to its right. But I’m sorry to say that V382 Cassiopeiae just would not appear for yours truly. Although I’m willing to give it one more try with higher magnifications. I simply need a very clear night with good seeing conditions. Its position is to the left of an 11.5 magnitude star called TYC 3662 2542. Seemingly its magnitude varies from 10.7 to 11.5. However I reckon it goes fainter than that. 

8. I finished my observing session with the -2.9 magnitude Jupiter. It has been so long since I observed the largest planet. But now it is in Pisces and above my neighbour’s house. Using my WO 70mm small apo I was so pleased to see 3 of Jupiter’s moons on the western side of Jupiter. In the main scope at 40x I could see all 4 moons. Here they are with their magnitudes in brackets: Ganymede (4.4), Io (4., Europa (5.1) and Callisto (5.5). How amazing it was to notice that all 4 moons were positioned in their descending order of magnitudes to the west of the planet! I’m not sure if I have seen this before. At 112x I saw the North Equatorial Belt (NEB) and the South Equatorial Belt (SEB) The North Polar and South Polar regions were seen quite easily. At this power I also saw the Great Red Spot (GRS) for the second time in 2022. It was right on the central meridian (CM). Of course I increased the magnifications. At 225x and 280x I noticed its oval roundness. But strangely I had no colour. It was slightly darker than the SEB. At 280x the view was too blurred. Right now, Jupiter is less than 600 million kilometres from Earth. I was so delighted to have observed it at its maximum magnitude. I will keep on observing the largest planet for as long as I can. 

Clear skies from Aubrey. 

Super report Aubrey!

I always love how share interesting details about some of your observations. For example, knowing the name and occupation of the man behind STI stars, and that he discovered over 2000 double stars. 

I also enjoyed reading your detailed notes on Jupiter. That seems to have been a great observation. 

Maybe you might see V382 Cassiopeiae from the Sugarloaf over the coming weeks...I'm looking forward to getting back there again soon. 

Great report!!!

Clear skies, 
Darren. 

 

Well - let's just hold our horses, Darren. 

I feel I got a glimpse of V382 Cassiopeiae on Saturday night 1st October. 
Eventually I got up to 320x with my Nagler 3.5mm eyepiece. 
I first had to make sure I had 2 nearby stars in view. 
TYC 3662 2558 is east of V382 and has a magnitude of 11.0. 
To its upper right is an 11.5 magnitude which is TYC 3662 2542. 
Therefore there is a kind of a triangle of stars including V382. 
Both these nearby stars are easy to see at 225x and 280x. 
But to see the elusive carbon star I needed 320x. 
And even then, it disappeared because of seeing conditions. 

I have now decided to ask the good imagers of Cloudy Nights to help me at estimating the magnitude of V382 Cassiopeiae. 

www.aavso.org says the magnitude varies from 10.7 to 11.5. 
However I beg to differ. 
This carbon is much fainter than that.
It might be at 12.5 to 13.0. 

If anyone here wishes to image V382 Cas, Wednesday night 5th October might be a good option. 
Sadly I won't be observing as I'm out. 

Clear skies from Aubrey. 

Also on Saturday night 1st October, I observed the 4 moons of Jupiter is a fascinating arrangement. 
Io was reasonably close to the planet's western side. 
But all the action was happening on the eastern side!
Ganymede had reappeared from behind Jupiter's side and was sitting north of Europa. The 2 moons looked like a wide double star in a north-south position. There were lovely and close at 40x. Beautiful! 
Callisto was a little bit further out on the east side. 

Jupiter was still at a maximum brilliancy of -2.9. 

Clear skies from Aubrey. 
 

Hi Aubrey,

That Nagler eyepiece of yours is something else..it seems to always do business for you. I've lost count of how many times it helped you split a tight double...I hope Televue have you on their books because you make a strong case to invest in one.

The delta mag V382 Cassiopeiae is interesting, and I'm looking forward to hear where this conversation goes...keep us posted please.

You given another lovely description of Jupiter too...lovely stuff all round..thanks pal!

Clear skies,
Darren.


 

Hello again, one and all. 

I have further news regarding my new carbon star V382 Cas candidate. 
A vendor on Cloudy Nights has made some important comments to me on the Scientific Amateur Astronomy Forum. He's a good guy. 
He has informed me that when AAVSO gives the estimates of V382 they are giving R red bands estimates. So the star varies from 10.7 to 11.5 but only in the red band. They add the letter R after the magnitude estimates on the VSX forum. This hugely important!

When an observer on www.aavso.org gives a V filter magnitude reading, he or she is using the red band wavelength. 

If you wish to you can check this link from AAVSO:
  app.aavso.org/webobs/results/?star=000-BCY-618&num_results=200
As you might see, there are 2 observers who have studied V382 Cas in recent years. 
Their initials are HMHA and LCLA. 
Their V filter magnitude estimates from roughly 12.2 to 12.5 and have been from the years 2017 to 2021. 
The last true visual observer dates from 2014 - some 8 years ago. 
SJAT gave an estimate of 11.1 to V382. 
So the star is definitely a variable star. 

I will continue to wait for even one image either here on IFAS or Cloudy Nights. 
I should have given the RA and the Dec earlier. 
Here they are for those with GoTo systems. 

RA: 00 hours 35 minutes 37.47 seconds. 
Dec: +58 degrees 00 minutes 25.2 seconds. 

As you can imagine I'm greatly celebrating that I have successfully observed my 24th carbon star in Cassiopeia and my 113th overall. 

Clear skies to everyone from Aubrey.