Amazingly, clear skies for a second Saturday night in a row, well, for an hour anyway. I have been wanting to observe some doubles in Hercules for quite some time, so this was a good chance. Unfortunately, I only got time to have a look at these four before the clouds, and rain, came rolling in.
Kappa Herculis. Easy, magnitudes fairly close, lying in a very nice field.
Rho Herculis. Both white, approx 1 magnitude difference between the pair. Quite close, best view at 125x.
Delta Herculis. Big magnitude difference, secondary quite faint, and fairly close.
Gamma Herculis. Faint companion, not well seen. Apparently this is an optical double, although Gamma itself is a genuine double, not visible in "backyard" scopes.
I was disappointed not to get a chance to see any others, especially Mu, which is supposed to be excellent. Next time out.
One thing I did notice about Hercules, the order of greek letters seems to bear little comparison to the brightness of the stars in the constellation. To my eyes, Delta looked much brighter than Beta, and there must be at least ten stars all brighter than Gamma.
  