This is a pretty close double. Both stars appeared to be white in color, with one a little brighter than the other. While both stars were barely separated at 49X, 122X was my favorite view, and showed them a nice distance apart. This one is a little prettier than I expected for a same-color double.

According to the charts, this double is nearly identical to the previous one, except that each component is about half a magnitude fainter. But what a difference half a magnitude can make! I had to kick up the magnification to 81X even to see the second component.

At 122X, the pair is much more obvious. The primary is white with perhaps a tinge of yellow, and the secondary is white with perhaps a tinge of blue.

This is a really wide triple star and is best enjoyed at low powers. My lowest power eyepiece, 49X, is about as much magnification as you really want to use. o1 is an intense yellow star, whereas o2 is a bright milky white. Hovering near o1 is the medium-blue third component. Together, the three stars form an asterism that reminds me of the constellation Aries. The color contrast and wide separation make this star system a treat to view.

I logged this double the other night. But a reader of my observation reports kindly pointed out to me that at high powers, this was actually a double-double, meaning that each of the components was a double star. He said that his 10" telescope showed all four components nicely. Always up to a challenge, I decided to crank up the magnification and see for myself.

At 305X (my highest magnification available), I was able to split the secondary star into two separate components. This third star is fainter than its neighbor and has a grayish appearance. The close companion of the bright primary was suspected at this magnification, but couldn't cleanly be split.

At this point, the bright light pollution was really starting to frustrate me. I decided to take a break from my list and just do slow low-power sweeps through the Milky Way until something caught my attention. I came across several knots and groups of stars, but I was feelin too lazy to go look up their designations on the star charts.

Finally, my scope found itself pointing in the general area of Ophiuchus and Serpens. I remembered that there were a few things in this area I still wanted to log, so I went and got my star charts.

This open cluster is large, more than filling my field of view at 49X. It consists of fairly faint stars, but what it lacks in brightness, it makes up for in quantity. Several dozen members could be seen, forming interesting patterns and asterisms. A couple of bright stars border the cluster on opposite sides.