Hello friends.
It seems Tuesday nights seem to be good and clear for yours truly some 3 times since the beginning of 2023.
For the second Tuesday in a row, I set up my William Optics 158mm f/7 and its WO 70mm f/6 apochromatic refractors on my Berlebach Planet altazimuth mount in my back garden.
Sunset occurred at 18.26UT, and I observed from 18.45 to 20.30UT. The air temperature was +5˚ Celsius. The wind was very gentle – about 16 km/h. There was no dew.
Each of these doubles can be checked out on
www.stelledoppie.it
as per usual.
I had complete success with every double star here. It was definitely a night when everything I touched turned to GOLD!
1. I found Polaris (STF 93) again before the sky was truly dark, and saw the companion at 112x in the 3 o’clock position using my Pentax 10mm 112x eyepiece. Well - it is the 3rd month after all! Magnitudes: A = 2. B = 9.1. Sep = 18.4”. PA = 236˚.
2. And so once again I moved the scope almost in a straight line into King Cepheus. I re-observed STF 3051, and that magnificently tight double STF 2. I separated the latter at 280x as I did last Tuesday night – the 7th March. As many of you already know, STF 2 is my first sub 1” double of 2023.
3. Before I tell you about another sub 1” double, I had another go at STF 11. Last Tuesday I had high cloud, so I needed 112x to split this double. But tonight I could see the dim secondary at just 40x. The sky was very clear. Magnitudes: A = 8.5. B = 10.1. Sep = 8”. PA = 194˚. The primary is orange. The faint secondary is white.
4. Remarkably close by is that other sub 1“ double: STF 13. It is a true binary. Magnitudes: A = 7. B = 7.1. Sep = 0.96”. PA = 47˚. Funny – isn’t it? The separation of this double is identical with STF 2. And once again my 4mm 280x eyepiece got the clean separation. It’s a magnificent sight! STF 13 is now my 2nd sub 1” double of 2023. How many more will I find before 31st December? Anyway I noticed that the primary is a blue-white B8 star. The secondary is white. I used my Nagler 3.5mm 320x to see the slight blue-white colour.
5. This next double is easy. STTA 1 is an optical double. Magnitudes: A = 7.4. B = 7.8. Sep = 73.2”. PA = 103˚. My small 70mm apo, which I use as a finder scope, is sufficient to see both stars with a nice amount of black space between them. 11x is the power I use all the time with this small scope. But what of the colours? The primary is an M1 orange star. The secondary is G5 yellow. Nice! STTA stands for Otto Struve Supplement and it is definitely one for binocular users.
6. Very nearby is an Aitken double: A 801. I sometimes get a bit nervous with these Aitken doubles. The magnitudes of this one are supposed to be: A = 10.1. B = 10.2. Sep = 2”. PA = 231˚. But I’m delighted to say I had no hassle with this faint fellow. 140x was sufficient to split it quite cleanly. The magnitudes must be correct. But I did increase my magnification from 167x, 225x, 280x and 320x just to make sure I got this one.
7. Finally I ended on a tricky double: HJ 3237. Magnitudes: A = 8.9. B = 11.8. Sep = 30.7”. PA = 313˚. The primary is a K2 orange star. But that dim secondary proved so faint I needed 280x to see it. The view was not as nice as the above doubles. But I was quite relieved I saw the almost invisible companion – even though the separation was wide.
Thank you for reading my report.
Of course, comments are very welcome as always.
Clear skies from Aubrey.
