Hello everyone, 

I hope this post finds you and those close to you well.

Last Saturday was a wonderfully clear night, where the 'Seeing' and 'Transparency' were very good. For these reasons, I decided to set-up my f/5 250mm Newtonian Reflector on a Dobsonian base in my eastward facing backgarden.

Aubrey suggested that I should spend some time in and around Cassiopeia. So, we discussed several objects over the phone. For example, we took in the delightful double star 'Eta Cassiopeiae'; Messier 103; NGC 457 (The Owl Cluster); the Perseus Double Cluster; and another very nice colourful double star, but I'll need to check the NGC number - Aubrey you might help me here - Thanks!

It was great fun to compare what I observed against what our resident double-star aficionado observed, and we even checked our observations against some of those found in his reference book - it was great fun!

Several eyepieces were used during the observations. For instance, I used a 32mm Plossl, a 25mm Plossl, and a 9mm Expanse Eyepiece that provides 66° AFOV. We finished up about midnight, however, I stayed out until 1am as Saturn was coming in to view. 

The ringed planet looked exceptional through my 5mm Omegon LE Planetary eyepiece. As my scope has a 1250mm focal length I viewed Saturn at 250X. At this power I could see the Cassini Division on the East and West sides of the ring with The 'A' and 'B' Rings looking particularly good.

In addition, the Shadow of Globe on Rings (Sh G R) was clear to see. However, it was dificult to distinguish between the Shadow of Rings on Globe (Sh R G), and the "Crepe Band" - maybe someone here can help me in this regard.

Several other dark features were observed such as the NEB and the NNTeB, and the NNTeZ was also observed. As many of you know I normally like to sketch what I observed, but last Saturday, I decided to just sit and watch. In saying that, I did manage to get a nice photo and video using my smartphone. To add to the experience while observing Saturn, I had Sibelius' 'At the castle gate' playing through my headphones - it was one of those special moments that will surely make it to my top observations of 2022. 

As always, many thanks for reading and comments are welcomed.

Clear skies to all.

Darren.

 

Hello Darren. 

What a super read you are giving us of your observations from last Saturday night!
Can you tell us what colours you saw of the double star Eta Cassiopeiae (Achird)?

You also observed the easy double Alpha Cassiopeiae (Schedar),

NGC numbers refer to star clusters, nebula and galaxies - never double stars. 
I'm not sure if your 3rd double star was STF 3053. It might have been. 
I seem to remember you located NGC 663 also in Cassiopeia near M103. 

I'm delighted with your observation of Saturn. 
The ringed planet was at opposition on Sunday night. 

Thank you again, Darren. 

Clear skies from Aubrey. 

Hello Aubrey,

Very many thanks for your nice message, and for reminding about Schedar. In terms of the colours I believe that Achird displayed last Saturday, I'd go with bright yellow for the primary and dark orange for its companion.

Also many thanks for clarifying that the object I could not think of was not a double star, but an Open Cluster: NGC 225, and yes, NGC 663 was observed too. 

Great night all round,

Clear skies my friend,

Darren.

By the way, Darren, my next carbon star in Cassiopeia is near NGC 225. 
But it could be a difficult to see. 
It's called V823 Cassiopeiae and its magnitude varies from 10.5 down to 14.6 - the latter magnitude is fainter than Pluto.  

But I need a clear sky first and with no Moon. 

Now when are we going to get a clear sky?

Best regards from Aubrey. 

Hi Aubrey,

That's a big difference in magnitude ...you've managed to get me hooked on variable stars.

And I've attached one of the pictures of Saturn I took with my phone last Saturday. Of course it's far from perfect, but it's the first time that I managed to capture a recognised image of the ringed planet. 

Seems like a while before we'll get a clear sky

All the best,
Darren.

  

We might have clear skies on Thursday night, Darren - on the east coast anyway. 
We could seek out V842 Cas' colour and magnitude after all. 

Best regards from Aubrey. 

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.