Hello everyone.
After all the rain showers last Friday I knew from
www.met.ie
that our skies were going to clear very well. And so eventually, Valerie shone a torch to help me set up my William Optics 158mm f/7 apochromatic refractor on its Berlebach Planet alt-az mount. Mirror diagonals were fitted to both the main scope and the WO 70mm f/6 apo.
The wind was blowing at 23 km/h and the temperature was 7˚ Celsius.
My observing session began at 9.15pm and ended at 11.30pm.
1. I headed up to Cassiopeia and saw the companion of Schedar (Alpha Cas) at 40x.
2. The triple star Achird (Eta Cas) looked particularly good at 40x and 112x. The colours are: A = yellow. B = almond brown. C = white.
3. Straight up from Achird, without moving from left or right, both double stars BU 1096 and STF 38 were found cleanly separated in the same field of view at 40x and 112x. I had observed both before.
4. There is a K7 star nearby called V749 Cassiopeiae. I greatly admired the star’s almond brown colour at magnifications up to 225x. I have now observed 7 K7 stars in Cassiopeia alone. These have been Achird B, TYC 3665 1359, TYC 3666 675, TYC 3667 1319, TYC 3669 593, V778 Cas and now, V749 Cas.
5. STI 1385 is a double star I have separated before recently. It looks very good at 225x, 280x and 320x. Its magnitudes are very dim: A = 10.9. B = 11. Sep = 4.7”. PA = 341˚.
6. This time I had great difficulties spotting the carbon star V382 Cas. I have a Guide 9.1 map alright of the area of the sky. But I was seeing another orange non-carbon star of 12.7 in magnitude nearby. I’m not at all sure I saw V382 Cas last time. Maybe I did. I’ve no further information of V382 Cas’ true variability. Could it be fainter than +13 magnitude? I’ll try again when the Moon is out of the way. At the time the Moon was peering over my neighbour’s house in the southern sky. It was seriously bright of course, and probably gave me trouble seeing V382 Cas.
7. Top of the bill was, of course, Jupiter. It was still at a maximum brilliancy of -2.9. Will we ever forget seeing it so bright? But on this particular Friday night all 4 moons – Ganymede (4.5 mag), Callisto (5.6 mag), Io (4.9 mag) and Europa (5.1) were just about visible with my William Optics 70mm apochromatic refractor at a mere 11x. Callisto, Io and Europa were on the eastern side of Jupiter. Callisto was sitting so close to the south of Io at 11x. It looked like a very close double star. These 3 moons were shaped like a delightful curl. Ganymede was over on the western side. There was a faint +9.9 magnitude star to its west. That star’s designation is HD 476. So maybe we could consider it another “double star” of sorts.
8. Moving unto the planet itself at 167x, the SEB appeared that bit darker than the previous week. But it was still not as dark as the NEB. The North Polar Region (NPR) was plain to see; but the SPR was invisible. However at 225x I could just about see the South Temperate Belt and south of it was the South South Temperate Belt. Both these belts are always faint.
9. To the upper right of Jupiter I noticed an orange star. Its designation is XZ Piscium and its spectral class is M5III. Its magnitude varies from 5.6 to 6. Nicely spotted at 11x in the small apo. At 112x it is quite a pleasing sight.
10. And only a short distance was the irresistible carbon star TX Piscium. This is probably the brightest carbon star in the heavens – except for possibly U Hydrae. Effortlessly easy to see at 11x. But what a grand sight at 112x. It has a super rich orange colour.
11. Finally I could see Aries getting higher at 11.30pm. So I spent a little time observing Mesarthim (Gamma Arietis). Lovely tight split at 40x. The 2 stars are white. Their separation is 7.4”. The PA is 1˚. There is a 3rd optical companion of 8.6 magnitude. And that’s easily visible at 40x too.
That’s the end of my report.
Comments are very welcome.
As I do have a busy week ahead, I reckon it will be next weekend before I do any more observing.
Clear skies from Aubrey.
