Hello, dear friends.
Irish skies are now remaining bright up until midnight lately.
On Friday night 2nd June 2023 I had my William Optics 158mm f/7 apochromatic refractor placed in my back garden. Sunset occurred at 21.43 IST (Irish Summer Time). The wind was dying down all the time from 8 km/h to 0 during my brief observing session. All 3 celestial objects are in Boӧtes. I’m sorry there weren’t more.
1. The -0.06 magnitude star Arcturus was first on my menu. I was patiently waiting for Alpha Boӧtis to appear at 11x in my small 70mm f/6 apo. I was moving my whole system from east to west (has anyone else tried this?) until lo and behold himself appeared at 21.55 IST. I went straight to the main scope at 40x, and my wonderful orange K-class star looked very good indeed. To its south CN Boӧtis was in the same field of view. This star was very faint; but I was pleased I could see it with out any difficulties.
2. Izar (Epsilon Boӧtis) came next. As some of you know I am having problems with my observing eye. That’s because I have a cataract in it. I am planning on having this nuisance removed during July or August this year. I used to be perfectly capable of seeing some black space between A and B of Izar. But that does not happen now until 167x. And even then the orange primary looks a complete mush. The secondary is white alright. And that’s because, as I said before, the sky is still very bright.
3. What a beautiful true binary is my latest double. I’m sure some of you have observed STF1884; but it is a first time observation for yours truly. It has magnitudes: A = 6.6. B = 7.5. Sep = 2.15”. PA = 54.4˚. The star is about 3˚ down from Izar. If you haven’t treated yourself for a while I recommend to you STF1884. The primary is definitely a yellow-white F8 star. Some of you might see some blue in the secondary. But I didn’t, and I don’t mind in the least. I love white secondaries. I observed it at powers 112x, 140x, 167x and 225x. As you may know I can separate all 4 components of Epsilon Lyrae at 112x, and it was a real joy I could see the tiniest of black gaps between both these stars of STF 1884.
Thank you for reading this report.
I know it’s short and sweet.
But wouldn’t it be great if I could see something new each time I have a brief observing session?
I wish you all clear skies.
Aubrey.
