Kaffaljidhma split

Good evening, double star lovers. I have just come in from observing the heavens with my 6.2" apo. I hadn't used the telescope since the end of October -I was away on the eclipse cruise. I was a bit rusty -guidescope had to be adjusted.
So I did check out a few old favourites tonight and among them was Kaffaljidhma (great name). It is called more often Gamma Ceti. Components A and B are 3.5 and 6.2 magnitudes. Separation is a tight 2.3" and the position angle is 298 degrees. I needed 225X to split him. There was a fair wind blowing, but at times it was quite calm.
Anyway, Gamma Ceti is very easy to find -it can be seen with the unaided eye west of brighter Alpha Ceti.

Aubrey.

Welldone on braving the weather, the gaps in the clouds here are fleeting and it rains hailstones when it clouds over.
Did you notice any subtle hints of colour in Kaffaljidhma ?
what a crazy name for a star :laugh:

Hi Dave and Paul. Yes the east coast of our beloved country was very clear after 7pm.
The west coast and the midlands was not for quite a while.
Component A of Gamma Ceti was yellow but I could not figure out B. The wind was a problem almost all the time and caused difficulties for figuring out colours.
I did observe 11 objects last night. Among them was Struve 194 in Aries. I needed 320X to split him. Separation is 1.3".
Struve 7 and Struve 401 is a double -double in Taurus north west of the Pleiades. Stunning at just 40X. Very easy to find also. They were nice to see again after my 1st observation in February.
Also I hunted down with great ease NGC 1647 and NGC 1746. Both open star clusters are in Taurus and are lovely at 40X.

Aubrey.

Aubrey nice split of Kaffaljidhma, lovely name I split it last January in
the 150mm reflector. The colour to me seemed to be difficult to make out
I thought the companion looked yellow and primary white but sometimes it was
the reverse, strange.

Pat.

Great to hear from you, Pat. The colours I gave are from Sissy Haas's book on double star book -yellow and green. However Burnham states them as A white and B yellow. So you must be right, Pat. The spectrums are A and F. Maybe if I increase the magnification next time to 280X or 320X, I can figure out the colours. I was very pleased to split it this time round. It was my 1st time since the 2000's to observe Kaffaljidhma. As far as I remember, Gamma Ceti had no name then.

Aubrey.

Hi Aubrey, Fair play on getting out, I haven't ventured outside for an observing session since early November. I observed Kaffaljidhma in early December last year, using a C11, and found it a tough split at 190x. I didn't detect colours in either star. Unfortunately, I didn't look for the fainter, distant orange companion. Jim Kaler has a nice article on Kaffaljidhma: stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/kaffaljidhma.html

Happy Christmas All,
Mike