| Observer: | Tom Campbell |
| Location: | Iola, Kansas (Long: 95 30' W Lat: 37 55' N) |
| Telescope: | 60mm f/11.7 Refractor |
| Eyepieces: | 10mm Plossl, Homemade 22mm Kellner |
| Time: | 11:00pm - 12:00am CDT |
| Transparency: | Some haze |
| Seeing: | Steady |
After work tonight, I had to go fix a computer for an acquaintance of mine. By the time I was finished, darkness was in full swing and a lot of stars were visible. I was somewhat tired, but I really hate to miss too many observing opportunities, so thought I'd take my telescope out for a short session. I didn't have to work the next day, so figured I could just sleep in a little later the next day.
The night before, I had made up a list of about 15 objects that I really wanted to log within the next few weeks. Many of these were in Aquarius and Capricornus (which was already flitting amongst the trees), so they'd have to wait for another night when I could set up a bit earlier. Most of Aquarius was visible, however, so I tried there first.
This is a really nice and wide multiple star system, viewable with the naked eye as a small hazy patch. I had looked at this system before, but didn't have a star chart handy to tell me exactly what it was, so didn't log it. I rectified that problem tonight.
At 32x, a triangular formation of stars is readily apparent, with the two end stars (y1 and y3) each showing a fairly close binary component.
When viewing at 70x through my Plossl eyepiece, y1 actually becomes three stars, in a roughly equilateral triangle. The third component is a little fainter than the other two. y1 would normally be a worthy target in its own right, but when combined with y2 and especially y3 in the same field of view, this becomes a good object to show off at star parties.
About this time I started noticing that some of the stars had disappeared and several of the brighter ones were noticably dimmer. Haze was starting to settle in. I tried to find a few open clusters in the Aquarius region, but it wasn't gonna happen tonight. A little disappointed in how the evening was progressing, I decided to turn my attention to the other multiple star system on my list. The wider doubles can usually still be detected in less-than-ideal conditions.
This one presented a bit of a challenge in my small telescope. The second component of this star system is about four magnitudes fainter. Based on the apparent orbit of the secondary star (according to my Burnham's Celestial Handbook), these two stars are almost at maximum separation right now. If that is the case, then I would probably never be able to have detected the second member when they were at their minimum separation.
The bright primary appeared slightly off-white (perhaps even gray), whereas the dim companion was a medium blue. I was able to barely catch a hint of the secondary star at 32x, so I switched to 70x (Plossl eyepiece) to verify that the second star was indeed there. After confirming, I went back to 32x and the secondary appeared a bit more obvious (since I knew right where to look).
This pair does have a rather nice color contrast, and could easily be added to the "favorites" list of observers fortunate enough to own telescopes with a little more aperture.
I had planned to also view several open clusters in Cassiopeia tonight, but the hazy weather just wasn't cooperating. Four of my all-time favorite objects were in the sky right now (Jupiter, Saturn, Pleiades, and the Double Cluster) so I took a quick peek at them before retiring for the evening. The two open clusters looked outstanding, and the Double Cluster looked about as pretty as I had ever seen it, but both Jupiter and Saturn were boiling in the turbulent atmosphere near the horizon. Time to head off to bed...