September 18, 2000

Having just received my first 1.25" eyepiece (a 10mm Plossl) this weekend, I was anxious to put it through its paces. The sky was clear, but there was a heavy breeze blowing (5-10mph), and through the telescope, the entire sky looked like it was underwater, due to all the turbulence in the atmosphere.

However, my curiosity got the better of me, and I decided to look at a few binary stars and open clusters. Unfortuneately, it was a short night, as the seeing got even worse as the night wore on. Before I went inside, even the brightest stars were difficult to bring into sharp focus, and I couldn't even detect a single band on Jupiter!

Nevertheless, in the early hours, I was able to log a few objects of interest:

This is the first time I've observed this binary system. The primary appeared as a bright, yellowish star, with a much dimmer pale blue companion. At 70x, the separation was about the equivalent of one airy disc diameter. This is a pretty pair, with a nice contrast of colors. I'm surprised I haven't logged this beauty before...

I found it interesting that my Peterson Field Guide: Stars and Planets (2nd Ed.) listed this pair as being orange and yellow. However, Burnham's Celestial Handbook identified the pair as being yellow-orange and greenish-blue, much closer to my observations. Perhaps this was a typo in the PFG?

This cluster is nicely framed in my 70x Plossl eyepiece. I detected several brighter stars (15-18) that are easily detectable, and many fainter ones that require averted vision to detect. With direct vision, some of these faint stars appear as nebulosity around the brighter ones. This isn't really an impressive cluster in my telescope, except for its rather easy-to-find location.

At 70x, this cluster reminds me of a wheel within a wheel. There's an outer ring of fairly bright stars, containing an inner core outlined by slightly fainter stars. Within this core is a smattering of even fainter stars that appear somewhat nebulous at this magnification. The outer ring takes up a good 3/4 of my Field Of View in this eyepiece, while the inner core is only about 1/4 of the FOV. Looking closer at the inner core, most of the brighter stars form pairs, placed at various angles.

This is the first time that I've looked at this binary, as well. I had read an observing report recently on the internet that mentioned this nice binary system, and decided to take a look for myself. 61 Cyg is a naked-eye star system, but you have to do a bit of starhopping to make sure you're looking at the right one, as it is located in the heart of the Milky Way.

At 70x, the stars are similar in magnitude (one is slightly brighter), and are spaced a bit closer than Albireo (b Cyg. They are both dingy yellow or pale orange in color.