OR: Doubles and Mars from Home, 10/11/20

[Lumpy SQM22 Darkness]

Get out now and see Mars, the size of the Full Moon!  When you see it, imagine it being oh, maybe 10 million miles closer and you've got it.  But it is quite good even seeing it as it really is, a small red world showing obvious and interesting details.  And that's what I did at the end of last night's backyard doubles observing session.  It was worth the wait.  But first, one of the best doubles sessions I've had.  Imagine (again) if you will, a world in which all your bike rides are downhill, from start to finish.  It was *that* easy last night.  No matter where I looked, there I was.  Easiest star hops in the finder, as if the finder was more aptly named founder.  Transparency was up, even though seeing was down.  But not down in the dumps, just off a bit with slow to moderate waves of atmosphere giving a bit of unsteadiness.  But the ease of using the founder, riding it downhill all night.  That was awesome!  I didn't even break a sweat.

I continued trying to finish up RA 20 while it was still overhead and falling to the west all night.  All night being maybe 2-1/2 hours ending at 22:00. Constellations included a bit of Cygnus, a lot of Delphinus, some Aquila, and a few toes dipping into into Equuleus.  Then Mars, big as the Moon.  I had thought of Dinosaur Point, but I'm spoiled at the ease of backyard observing now.  I wrote a short essay about it yesterday; "Confessions Of A Backyard Observer".  The transformation from a deep and dark guy, take that as you will, to someone more at home in the universe 20 steps out the door.  But back to the actual observing.

I didn't encounter any sub-arc second targets as I went object to object through the list.  I began in the north, almost directly overhead, in that grossly named location "Dob's Hole" behind Cygnus' eastern wing.  I ended the session between Pegasus' nose and Aquila's beak, a great area with many close-to-each-other targets.  The tightest split was 1.5", with a handful under 2.5".  Colored doubles on the list were a treat.  Carbons, well, they are always worth a visit, kind of Forrest's "box of chocolates", never knowing what you'll get.  Variables, are just fund to estimate and check the next day.  All sorts of treats along the way.

So, here's what I had, riding downhill last night, having fun on the bike.  Look ma, no hands!

STF 2658 AB   20 13 41    +53 07 30     7.19    9.38    5.4    106
This was an easy hop from Iota Cygni past the blinking planetary and through 20 and 24 Cygni, then past dim pair off one end northeast to sao 32286 used as pointer stars.  I found a nice mag 7 clean white primary to the west of a two magnitude dimmer reddish member.  Easy in my 7 mm at 164X, but still a tight split at around 5" separation.

SHJ 314 AD    20 05 57    +35 47 18    6.78    9.49    11.4    300
Easy location just a tad east of Eta Cygni there is a nice long finderscope chain of can't miss it stars, and this target second from the chain's south end.  Its brightest member and dim pair are bracketed in two sets of trios. It is an easy split of brighter trio, which is in center of the bright open cluster NGC 6871.  The actual pair is is part of visual trio, the double's primary and nearby non-member star both in the mag 7's, the primary southwest of the non-member, and southeast of and closer to the mag 9 maybe 5 arc second split secondary.  Very nice busy area in that cluster.

STF 2722    20 43 39    +19 43 41    8.32    8.94    7.4    306
Diving southeast to the emptiness ahead and above Delphinus, this easy to hop to location gave me a pair with a reddish coppery mag 8 companion to mostly west of mag 7 white primary.  The hop was "no hands" riding from Alpha Del past an obvious mag 6.2 and 6.8 pair to some identically oriented chains making the location an easy one in my finder.

SAO 106516    20 48 36   +17 50 23    Carbon
Less than two degrees south of the last target and to the west of an equal magnitude white star, this carbon is slightly tinged red and unimpressive for color, and has only slight variability.  Is it fair to say not every star can be a star?  Easy hop from pair of stars mentioned above.

CHE 191 AB    20 12 16    +15 24 09    9.13    9.65    11.9    334
Away from the back of Delphinus, near mag 5 star Rho Aquilae, there is a nice little elongated right angle trio with a mag 7.5 and 8.0 stars as the short leg. The double there is quite dim with my 7mm at 239X, wide at maybe 11 arc-seconds.  The pair are oriented north-south at mags 9 and 9.5 with dimmer member to north.  Blue white pair.

STF 2673 AB    20 22 44    +13 20 25    8.29    9.75    2.4    326
Fun hop from Delta to Beta Delphini and beyond, to an obvious slight north-south arc of mag 6 stars, then a short distance to a similarly oriented pair, continuing to a "single" star.  That single star is a wide double and the center of east-west chain of three, and the brightest of the three.  This is a tight double that splits in nicely 4.8mm (239X) and is to the west of the wide center double.  Primary of the tight split is to southeast, and a mag and a half brighter.  The 3.8mm (304X) shows a goldish white primary and blue secondary.  Nice tight split.

STF 2718 AB    20 42 33    +12 43 42    8.28    8.39    8.6    88
Another easy hop from Beta Delphini south through mag 5.7 and 6.8 wide finder pair to a pretty gentle arc of three stars.  This is a pleasing even mag 8 white pair nicely separated in 7mm, but not splitting in the 20mm, with a northwest to southeast orientation.

STF 2620 AB    20 04 09    +11 47 40    8.23    9.18    1.9    287
An easy hop from Delta through Gamma Aquilae and about half that distance beyond to an isolated mag 5.7 and 6.3 finder pair.  Interesting, there must be mistake in my data, t as this is a very bright primary perhaps mag 6, with a dim by 3 mags companion very tight to its north in a 3.8mm.  Tough split tonight in so-so seeing.

STF 2690 A,BC    20 31 12    +11 15 34    7.12    7.39    17.7    256
Easy location off Epsilon Delphini, the tip of the dolphin's tail. Visible in the finder, a very even mag 7 white pair widely split in 20mm running east-west.

The next target was back over by Altair, so if you're following on a chart you'll notice a lot of back and forth across RA as I move further south.  When I cut wood on a CNC, the program calculates the optimal path across around the pattern I cut.  It does so automatically to optimize the time and take advantage of hitting nearby points in a sensible order.  I would love to have such a program to make more sense of a couple dozen star hops descending in declination.  Any ideas?

STF 2613 AB    20 01 27    +10 44 55    7.48    8.02    4.1    352
So, this one is a very easy hop using Altair and Gamma Aquiliae to create a triangle with a line that extends out to a slightly concave arc of stars to northeast.  Among them and  well split in 4.8mm is a north-south pair with its mag 7.5 primary to the south of the mag 8 companion, both white.

V1469 Aql        HIP 98538    20 01 03    +09 30 51    Carbon
An easy hop off same slightly concave arc from the prior target.  In 20mm this carbon is very near a slightly brighter star, so these are by far the two brightest in field.  The red color of the carbon is subtle. I would not particularly think of it as a carbon had I just stumbled on it not knowing.  Carbon has very slight variability.

BU 65    20 47 48    +06 00 30    5.64    8.24    1.5    199
easy find using Theta Aquilae and Enif (Epsilon Pegasi) to locate a few pair of mag 5 and 6 stars in between.  Very easy star patterns in this small area to use in the finder. Double is very tight and surprising I can discern in this seeing, but its primary is to northeast at mag 6 with very close gold companion at mag 8.5.  Amazing!

STF 2735    20 55 41    +04 31 58    6.45    7.54    2.0    281
This pair is very close by at less than 1 degree southeast of the prior one, and part of an obvious group of three bright stars.  A nice split of a gold and white pair, wide while still quite tight  at 304X in 3.8mm.  Gold primary is to southeast of its companion.  Mags 6.5 and 7.5?

STF 2737 AB,C    20 59 05    +04 17 38    5.30    7.05    10.5    67
This pair is in the same field as the prior one, and wide split in the 7mm at perhaps 12 arc-seconds.  This colorful gold and blue pair rivals Alberio,  its gold primary at mag 6 to the west of its mag 6.4 companion.

NSV 25384    20 53 29    +03 00 07    Variable    9.23    3.56    237.6457129
Again, nearby the prior target at just under 2 degrees to the southeast.  A very short very easy hop in the finder right to this.  Three very different mag stars in small triangle, this variable is the brightest member.  I estimated it about mag 8 comparing it to sao 126361.  AAVSO light curve shows it this morning at.... er... there is not actual mag range!  Showing at mag 7.54-?V and no period listed.  No light curve.  This one is a mystery!

By this time, close to 22:00, Mars was up above the trees, but still only at around 30 degrees altitude.  I decided to give it a try.  I began in the 7mm at 239X.

I noted its salmony color with many obvious large dark markings.  One smaller dark marking in the southwest was blocky.  A large dark area extending across the southern part of the equator was broken in places.  A large dark extension toward the east perpendicular to the equatorial dark band extended north, not thin, but thinner than horizontal markings. The small white southern ice cap showed with subtle tonal changes below it.  A northern cap seemed more a large haze extending as an arc or crescent shape over a large area on the limb. The northeastern limb area also seem lighter colored significantly intruding maybe one third the way across to the descending dark area, all covered with a thin whitish haze.  Best view in many years, perhaps ten or ore, even with not great seeing.

So, that was it.  A few steps out the backdoor, for two and a half hours away from home.

More to come.  Hope everyone who went to Dino enjoyed it as well.

[Jeff Gortatowsky]

I observed Mars last night as well using the 'new to me' 10 inch dob. I noticed in my mind that the markings looked like an eagle or hawk coming at me almost straight on. 

Outstretched wings and the head and beak dipped down a bit. Silly, but that's the best way I can describe it. Seeing for me was also a little coming and going...

Blurry then clear... etc... 

But when the air settled I could see subtle shading on the 'wings'. So I think, given the vertical mirroring, the western wing, looking in the eyepiece (meaning the right half) , had more subtle shading above (south?)

 the wing. My Mars bird-of-prey basically stretched the entire diameter of Mars.

Sorry if the description is a bit vague or wrong. But it was a nice view. 

Clear skies

Jeff

Jeff Gortatowsky, Redondo Beach, CA | Twitter: JeffGortatowsky | Yahoo: indanapt
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jeffgortatowsky

"Skepticism is a provisional approach to claims. It is the application of reason to any and all ideas — no sacred cows allowed. In other words, (science and) skepticism is a method, not a position." - M. Shermer

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[Jeff Gortatowsky]

That was from home about 1.2km from the ocean. Bortle 8 skies.  10 inch dob f/4.7 and a 7.5mm Celestron UltraScopic for about 157x.

[mark....@resource-intl.com]

I think you must mean your 254 mm.

How do you think it performed?  First impressions.

I'm glad to see someone else observing in town in a te.... uh.... 254.

Mark

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[Jeff Gortatowsky]

Actually no. Its 250mm a quirk of the SkyWatcher/Synta and GSO brands. Probably a metric thing. They are a 1/4 meter. 9.7 inches give or take.

First impressions are good. Mars was very fine. Saturn good focus `snap`. Star test was inconclusive as seeing was not great. 

Jeff Gortatowsky, Redondo Beach, CA | Twitter: JeffGortatowsky | Yahoo: indanapt
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jeffgortatowsky

"Skepticism is a provisional approach to claims. It is the application of reason to any and all ideas — no sacred cows allowed. In other words, (science and) skepticism is a method, not a position." - M. Shermer

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/sf-bay-tac/825e593a-7b45-40e5-aaa5-e57033babe2d%40email.android.com.