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New Year's Eve observations 2015

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8 years 2 months ago #105291 by flt158
New Year's Eve observations 2015 was created by flt158
Having not observed for a full 6 weeks (!) it was amazing to see very clear skies on Thursday 31st December 2015. As soon as I came home with Valerie having filled the fridge once again, I set out to put up the telescope. My William Optics 158 mm apochromatic refractor worked very well. Observations occurred between 5.30 pm and 7.15 pm; then again between 8 pm and 10 pm. The winds were dying down as the night progressed -therefore it did not feel too cold. I was leaping about all over the sky and I ended up checking out 21 objects. These are the highlights.

1. Epsilon Lyrae is still beautifully positioned reasonably high in the western sky. All 4 of its components easily seen at 112X. That little 5th star of 10.4 magnitude was very visible at 40X in between Epsilon 1 & 2. Its designation is TYC 3122-1635-1.
2. Pi Aquilae was getting low in the western sky but it was still easy to split at 140X and 167X.
3. How many optical companions does Altair (Alpha Aquilae) have? I count 5. They all have magnitudes between 9 and 10.
4. Albireo was next up to grabs. It was easily split at 11X and 40X. What was rather strange was seeing the B component at almost 12 o'clock. (My north is roughly up and east is to the right).
5. I was surprised I could make out Alrischa (Alpha Piscium) with my own eyes; and I do know it is a splendid double star. A is 4.1, B is 5.2. The separation is 1.8 arc seconds; the PA is 263 degrees (10 o'clock). The scope barely split at 140X. It was much more satisfying at 167X.
6. Before I get to Uranus, it is worth noting there are 3 nice stars near the planet. The first two are the wide double stars Zeta Piscium and 77 Piscium both cleanly split at a mere 11X. And thirdly WW Piscium which is a slightly red and very slightly variable. Even at 112X, it is less than half of a degree north of Uranus. What a lovely contrast in colour -red and green in the same field of view (FOV).
7. So with WW Piscium in the 30 arc minute FOV, it is easy to spot Uranus. I could make out its green disc at 112X. But I had to try out my new William Optics 4 mm eyepiece which provides quite a high magnification of 280X and 17 arc minutes FOV. Its 3.5 arc minute size was a nice size with the new eyepiece -I was very pleased with this observation.
8. Gamma Ceti has a gloriously long name: Kallaljidhma. The sky conditions were difficult at the time. the 2 closely tight stars were very blurred at 225X and 280X. I could just about see A (3.5 mag)and B (6.2 mag) with a separation of 1.9" and a PA of 299 degrees.
9. I spent a few minutes looking at M45 the Pleiades. It is essential to have a wide FOV for them. My 70 mm apo gives 6 degrees and my 2" 28mm gives 2 full degrees which fits in all the Pleiades very nicely.
10. Lambda Orionis was gaining height as the night went on. It is a quintuple star. Component A is +3.5, B is +5.5, C is faint at 10.7, D is 9.6 and E is 9.2. I could see all 5 stars at 112X -a very pleasing sight.
11. A nice double -double exists in north western Taurus near M45. STFA 7 and STF 401 are very close together and all 4 stars are separated at 40X. The magnitudes are 6.6, 6.9, 7.4 and 7.8.
12. Theta Aurigae has a name: Mahasim. It is a triple star but A and B are difficult -their separation should be easy at 4 arc seconds. But the magnitudes are 2.6 and 7.2. I could only see them both at 225X. The C star of +11.1 is much easier to see.
13. Gemini was rising at this late stage. So I had to observe M35 the open star cluster. It is so big at 28 arc minutes wide. It is also quite rich with many stars. Low magnification is sufficient -I used 40X. The bright orange star is a double star called Stt 134 of 7.5 magnitude and it has a secondary of 9.1 mag 31 arc seconds away.
14. Lastly, I spent some time with one last star which is high up in Cassiopeia. It is the triple star Iota Cassiopeiae and I have not observed it for many a long year. It is my first time to study it in my 6.2" apo and what a true gem it is. I found it easily enough moving away from Segin (Epsilon Cassiopeiae). The A component of Iota is 4.6 mag, so it is easy to spot in a finderscope. At 40X, I do not see any companions. But suddenly all changes at 112X. I one becomes 3! B is 6.9 mag and C is 9.1. The separations are 2.6 and 7 arc seconds. The PA's are 228 and 116 degrees. A has a slight yellow and B a slight blue. With my scope that is 12 and 3 o'clock which makes the system look like an 'L'. I am quite sure some of you out there have observe Iota Cassiopeiae in the past. I will have to check diaries to see when I did last time. Do come back to me with your experiences regarding it. It was a perfect high finish for me to end on for the very last night of 2015!

Thank you for reading.

Clear skies,

Aubrey.
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8 years 2 months ago #105292 by ploughc
Replied by ploughc on topic New Year's Eve observations 2015
Aubrey, sounds like you had a good night with the doubles, like you I was out to looking at a few doubles
in Aries, the highlight of the evening was Epsilon Aries aka stf 333 a beautiful double difficult last night
as the seeing was not great, but I managed to prise them apart at 275x The magnitudes are 5.2 and 5.6
seperation is a tight 1.3" PA 208 Some observers see hem as yellow and blue but to me last night
they both looked white, with just a trace of yellow in the primary. Its just as well we made use of last night
the next few nights are not looking very pretty. Happy new year to everyone and lets hope we get lots of
clear nights in 2016.

Pat.
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8 years 2 months ago #105293 by flt158
Replied by flt158 on topic New Year's Eve observations 2015
Hi Pat. It is great to hear from you once again.
Yes, I have split Epsilon Arietis and I agree it is a truly wonderful double star.
I have separated it within last 2 years at 167X in my 158 mm apochromatic refractor. Both stars are white to my eyes.
I might have a look at it next week if the skies clear.

But I feel I must return to Cassiopeia and view Iota again. I might add there is another charming triple about 6 degrees from it. It is Psi Cassiopeiae and it was highlighted in the November 2015 issue of Astronomy Now.

Keep up the good observing, Pat. I find your words very encouraging to me as always.

Aubrey.
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8 years 2 months ago #105300 by ploughc
Replied by ploughc on topic New Year's Eve observations 2015
Hi, Aubrey thank you for the kind words I was out last night looking at a few doubles, I would agree
with you that Iota Cassiopeia is a beauty , I have not observed Psi Cassiopeia and had intended to last
night but a stubborn bit of cloud seemed to cover it while I was out. Having said that the seeing early last
night was fantastic , I had another look at STF 333 and it was much easier than the last time at 275x the
split just beautiful. Another double I looked was 32 Orion mags. 4.4 and 5.75 sep. 1.3 on the 28 December
2014 I found it difficult , well last night it was easy almost split at 165x just beautiful at 275x . The strange
thing is about 15 minutes later I tried 52 Orion its slightly tighter but it should be not to difficult but no matter
what I tried I could not split it, I went back to 32Orion and in those 15 minutes the seeing had got much worse
32 was very soft and not very clear. I looked at the mirrors for dew but they seemed clear so it must have been
the seeing. I hope to get a look at Psi Cassiopeia tonight fingers crossed.


Pat.

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8 years 2 months ago #105301 by flt158
Replied by flt158 on topic New Year's Eve observations 2015
Good evening, Pat.
Yes clouds do unusual things. Sometimes they can get stuck and even grow in size whilst they not moving. I have had that annoying experience in the past.
It seems to be quite cloudy tonight Monday; and I am not free on Tuesday or Wednesday night. So it seems I have to wait until Thursday night at the earliest. Which means you might get a view of Psi Cassiopeiae before me if skies clear. Those 2 doubles of 32 & 52 Orionis are tough to split. I needed 225X to separate both last year.
But well done on your observation of Iota Cassiopeiae. Perhaps some other of us have been impressed with its 3 components.

Clear skies,

Aubrey.

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