Observations 13th August 2022

Hi Darren and Aubrey

Don't forget to have a look for Saturn's moons. Titan is pretty easy, and I've spotted Rhea twice in recent days, even though the seeing has been too poor to spot any others. But on a good night, both your scopes will be more than capable.

skyandtelescope.org/wp-content/plugins/o...rn_moons/saturn.html

The companion star in Eta Cas always looks brown to me



 

Hi Stevie,

Great to hear from you, and very many thanks for bringing that useful application to my notice - I'll be using it going forward. I think Aubrey mentioned he sees the companion as 'Almond Brown', or did he say Sissy Haas describes it 'Almond Brown' - I'm sure he'll let us know later on though. As you can probably guess I'm not too great with colours : ).

Clear skies to you,

Darren.

Hello Darren and Stevie. 

It's always welcome to hear from our fellow amateur astronomers from Northern Ireland, .
Regarding Saturn, Stevie, I can only observe the ringed planet from the Sugarloaf car park. It's too low from my back garden. And I did see Titan, Rhea and Iapetus recently from the Sugarloaf car park. But I was disappointed somewhat by not been able to see Tethys and Dione. Just once did I observe Enceladus from the same location some years ago.. 

Hello Darren. 
Dark orange is a very good colour description for Achird B with your 10" Dobsonian. 
Sissy Haas must have used a very good refractor to see this companion as an almond brown star. I'm in full agreement with her. Yellow primary and almond brown secondary is what I see all the time with my William Optics 158mm apochromatic refractor from 112x and higher magnifications. Simbad gives the spectral class of Achird B as K7V. And all K7 stars are almond brown to my eyes even if the star is standing alone. I have recorded a number of these stars here on www.irishastronomy.org . 

Dublin skies are supposed to clear after 7pm today. 
That's according to the 3 websites I regularly use. 
 

I can see Saturn from my back garden, but, since I live in North Belfast, and Saturn is in the south, I'm viewing it right through the city lights. I was pleasantly surprised to be able to see Rhea at all.
Also, I think the seeing, certainly up here, has been pretty poor for the last couple of weeks, which doesn't help matters. A few people have been remarking on how disappointing Saturn is at present. I was out the back last Thursday, and noticed Capella was suffering from Sirius syndrome, ie glittering and flashing like a disco ball. But not to worry, it will soon be Autumn, so hopefully things will improve.

Hi Aubrey and Stevie,

Many thanks for the messages. It it is great to see the nights getting a bit longer as of late. Here's to good few dark months

Clear skies,

Darren.