44 BOOTES

Aubrey, how did you get on,I did not do so well I had to go to
the airport to pick up my sister, the plane was delayed by 1 hour
so by the time I got back I was too tired to change the scope on
the mount(maybe to lazy) so I just tried the 80mm with no luck of
course. Will have another crack at it tomorrow night. Hope you get
to split it tonight.

Pat.

Ah yes, Pat, trips to airport can happen at any time. Sorry you couldn't get the opportunity to do any observing last Saturday night. It was extraordinary that the skies cleared wonderfully after 6pm.
I set up the refractor at 8.30 and observed Venus yet again. This time, the planet is 31,000,000 miles away, magnitude -4.3, and a huge 50" wide. What was particularly stunning was the 9.5% lit crescent. I observed it at 167X with a little shimmering in the Earth's atmosphere.
We had to wait a whole hour before Arcturus appeared, and it had its own familiar golden orange colour.
Finally at about 10.30pm, Izar, appeared, and we split at 167X.
So we kept the best till last. I starhopped from Beta Bootis (Nekkar), and came to 44 Bootis. I started at 40X, then went to 112X, and at 167X, 44 Bootis was beginning to separate, but not quite. So out came my 5mm Nagler which gives 225X, and with me kneeling on a garden pad, I split 44 Bootis. Component A is a little brighter than B alright, and its position is about 4 o'clock. It was very spectacular sight, and I would not have seen it only for you, Pat. Thank you so much for introducing this glorious little fellow to me, Pat. I had never observed it before. I couldn't make out any colours, by the way. I didn't mind.
Funny, just as I had finished observing 44 Bootis, I was planning to finish, clouds covered the whole sky. It was enough excitement for one evening.

Aubrey.

Aubrey, sounds like you had a good night, great split of 44 Bootes
I am jealous just hope that tonight clears up like last night.
I will swap the scopes over on the mount to be ready.
Will let you know how I get on, fingers crossed.

Pat.

Last night was very calm with seeing better than usual so I took advantage of the mild weather to do some observing from the back garden. Transparency was good, though the sky never got really dark because of the time of year.

Took a tour through Bootes, Serpens and Ophiuchus and finished in Hercules, taking in a couple dozen doubles and globulars. Here are a few of the highlights. With the good seeing I was just able to split some difficult doubles, including Izar and 44 Boo, the latter is indeed a nice system. I then took at crack at λ Oph, which has a separation of just 1.44". Somewhat, to my surprise it was split at 257 X. (I checked the position angle to be sure that I wasn't kidding myself.) Anyone else have experience of this nice bright binary which has a definite hint of yellow in the secondary. One small puzzle - the secondary of STF2031 was much fainter than expected, must investigate further. For good measure, no less than three satellites whizzed through the fov during the session! M13 and the beautiful yellow/greenish double Rasalgethi were great targets to finish the night's observing.

Looks like there might be some more nice nights to come this week (fingers crossed).

Mike

Hi Mike. Congratulations. You have joined the 44 Bootis fan club. Valerie and I have just come in from having a 2nd look at 44 Bootis. And we both love it. It takes my 5mm Nagler to split it. That is 225X. Funny, even at 140X, my 6.2" scope is trying to separate it. What I didn't realize is that there is another double just west of him -Otto Struve 291. It is a wide double -35" separation and magnitudes 6 and 8.5. Very pretty at 30X for me.
I must have a shot at Lambda Ophuichi at some stage. My house is in the way at present. I did split him back in 2001. But I greatly admire Raselgethi -I have seen him many times. Thank you for your splendid report.

Aubrey.

Hi Mike and Aubrey, I too was out last night having a look at
44 Bootis and I have to report no split. This was at 200x in
the 100mm Tal and for some reason I could not find my barlow so
I was dissapointed. I did split Izar and Porrima two of my favourite
doubles and Raselgethi is a beauty nice colour contrast.
I think the good weather is to last a few more days so we should
get a few more clear nights, to try and split 44 Bootes.

Pat.