Observations - 20/02/20

Hello, all.

Do you remember me saying I would not be observing anything else in Cassiopeia? Well tonight (Thursday 20th February) I placed my William Optics 158 mm F/7 apochromatic refractor in its most craziest position ever in my back garden. Mirror diagonals are fitted at all times.
You see, Cassiopeia is going behind some trees which have no leaves.
The Sun had set at 5.44 pm.

1. 20 minutes later I found Deneb (Alpha Cygni) which was quite low in the northern sky. Some minutes past when I could see this star with my own eyes. Its magnitude is +1.3.

2. I literally wandered my scope upwards. I saw 2 stars in my 70 mm apo at 11X which were in a diagonal position. They were both invisible to my eyes. The left upper one was glorious Achird (Eta Cassiopeiae). Yellow and almond brown were the colours at 40X and 112X as before. Magnitudes: 3.5 and 7.4. Separation = 13.4". PA = 326 degrees. Those colours are still irresistible.

3. The lower right hand one was Schedar. As we all know by now it is an optical double. It is a fine sight at 40X. Magnitudes: 2.4 and 9. Sep = 70.4". PA = 280 degrees.

4. Down I went to Sigma Cassiopeiae. I got a very slim black gap at 112X as per usual. Magnitudes: 5 and 7.2. Sep = 3.1". PA = 326 degrees.

5. I very much tried to find one last carbon star in Cassiopeia before the constellation takes its leave from my back garden. It would have been my 10th carbon in the W. But the star simply would not appear in my medium powered eyepieces. It is very near SAO 35603 which has a magnitude of 7.1. That star's spectral class is K5; and indeed it has a good orange hue. My carbon star has a multitude of designations. The popular ones are: EM*AS511, C* 3193, Case 687, LS Cassiopeiae and GSC 04004-01031. My Guide 9.1 DVD calls it 3UC293-223970 and its magnitude ought to be 11.2. But from here on, I will call it LS Cassiopeiae I should be able to see it at powers 112X and 167X. I was seeing stars as faint as 12.1 after all. So a none runner here for the time being. I have since discovered that LS Cassiopeiae is a lot more fainter than I was led to believe in the first place. On www.aavso.org they give it a varying magnitude of between +14.4 down to +16.9 in a period of 340 days. Therefore the information I did receive originally was all wrong anyway. I don't think I will ever observe LS Cassiopeiae. But never mind. I stay at 9 carbon stars for the time being. I will return to Cassiopeiae in August 2020. There are one or two more carbon stars waiting to be found.

6. Before I finished I did observe Almach (Gamma Andromedae). It is wonderfully split at 40X and 112X. Magnitudes: 2.3 and 5.0. Sep = 9.4". PA = 63 degrees.Who can resist its colours? Golden yellow - orange and blue!

Thank you for reading.
Comments are very welcome.

Clear skies,

Aubrey.

Good morning Aubrey, 

What a delightful report. I'm glad to read that you are still managing to squeeze a few more session out of the Great W in the sky, even it that means if you have to contort your body in a most unusual way, or having to climb a tree : ) 

But seriously, LS Cassiopeia sounds like an intriguing star. Do you think you'll get to observe it this year? I hope you do.

I really must try to have a look at Eta Cassiopeiae next time I'm out. 

With a bit of luck that might be tonight. I'll keep an eye on the forum to see if the meetup is going ahead tonight - fingers crossed, and clear skies, 

Darren. 

Hello Darren.

I thank you very much for your many encouraging remarks regarding me sighting LS Cassiopeiae at some stage in the future.

A little over a year ago, my Guide 9.1 DVD got a magnitude wrong. That time it was a faint carbon star in Andromeda. However I did find the particular star. Its magnitude was +13.2.
But I realise full well that searching a 13.9 magnitude star is pushing it a bit far, and that's when it's at its brightest. But that is even fainter than Pluto. I now believe that www.aavso.org is correct about LS Cassiopeiae. Also I should point out that the star has not been studied since 2015 - a full 5 years ago - and that by one guy.

But I am now ready for Cancer. And I do have some carbon stars in that constellation. I will probably still be observing this section of dark sky at Cosmos 2020.

Clear skies from Aubrey.

You're more than welcome Aubrey. Out of interest, what's the faintest star you could observe with your scope? And that's fascinating about how little LS Cass has been observed. 

I spent a little bit of time in Cancer last year, but that was before I started to record my observations, so they don't really count. Ursa Major is moving into a nice position for me to observe from my back garden, so I might spend some time there over the coming weeks. 

Clear skies, 

Darren. 

You will love Ursa Major, Darren.
Do give it your best shot when the skies clear.
You might consider observing Alula Australis (Xi Ursae Majoris).

That star in Andromeda must be the faintest. Its carbon designation is Case 717 and its magnitude was +13.2. It was an extremely clear and pitch black night with no Moon and no wind. I could only see the orange star by inverted vision, i.e, the star would disappear when I looked at it directly. I don't expect to see 13.5 magnitude stars any time soon.

But I am thrilled to own this scope and I don't covet amateurs who have larger scopes.

Ursa Major is galaxy country.  Working my way through the Herschel 400 I have already observed many galaxies in Ursa Major and I still have 29 to go.  There is also the Owl Nebula and numerous double stars.
BTW, I am not a fan of galaxies.
Paul