Back Yard astronomy with my own scope.
Monday 20th: At long last I have let my own scope see the night sky! Being a reasonably clear night - it wasn't until 23:45 BST that I actually directed my scope at an astronomical object - stars down to mag +4 were easily seen with the unaided eye, though there was some haze out to the west.
Well the first object on my target list was Epsilon Bootis, Izar (SAO 83500). Izar is the showpiece Double Star in Bootis. A tight binary, the yellow primary star contrasts with the blue secondary. Through the 20mm lens and 2.5x barlow (250x), both components are resolved into individual stars and show a NE-SW arrangement. There is also a third star belonging to this pair, but either I didn't notice it or because at mag 12, the scope failed to resolve it.
Staying in Bootis, Delta (SAO 64589) is a wide Double, easily resolved at any power. At 100x power the pair make an easily resolvable Double. With any more then both stars would be at opposite sides of the fov. The 3rd mag Primary star is bright yellow and far outshines the feeble mag 7.8 companion star. According to the WDS, the pair are widening.
The Long Period Variable; R Bootis (SAO 83440) is close by and I send my scope off to seek it out. This is my first ever observation of the Mira-type and understandably I give it due attention. Checking with charts from the AAVSO, I make an estimate of +8.0. There is a noticeable redness, common to all Mira stars, even at this low luminosity. R Bootis is rapidly fading having risen to maximum earlier in the year. Note to self - must remember to make magnitude estimates of variable stars earlier in their cycles so that I can construct light curves and report my observations to the AAVSO.
To the east of Bootis is the constellation of Corona Borealis. Zeta (SAO 64833) is a pair of blue/white stars separated by 6.4 arc seconds. At 100x, this makes for a nice compact pairing with a sliver of space separating the stars. There is a small difference in brightness between the two of about 1 magnitude. Also in the field-of-view (fov) is a dimmer star of possibly mag 7.
Time is cracking-on, it's now 00:25 BST and I still haven't seen Jupiter! The sky is still good and clear so I will persevere. The constellation of Hercules is due west and Rasalgethi (SAO 102680) is beckoning. A 3rd mag star with a close 5th mag companion. What can make this double star tricky to observe is that Rasalgethi is variable and when it increases brightness then the secondary star came be quite difficult to separate. Also some observers have remarked that the Comes (Double Star speak for Secondary) appears to be green in colour! Tonight the Primary is in a quiescent state and the close Comes can easily be separated at 100x power. This pair is in an almost perfect N-E alignment, being at Position Angle (PA or theta) 105 degrees.
The cloud is slowly starting to blanket the sky. I think that I am not going to see Jupiter during this session! Well, I'm going to make the most of it and squeeze at least one more observation before I am completely clouded-out!
Kappa Hercules, Marfik (SAO 101951) is not far away. The air has become cool Both stars are fairly wide and easily separated. The Primary is yellow and I think that the Comes is blue. It's starting to get difficult, the cloud is starting to have an adverse effect on my observations.
Quickly I drive the scope over to a rapidly decreasing clear patch of sky. Altair, Alpha Aquila (SAO 125122). Even though the cloud is rapidly encroaching across Altair, it is bright enough to resist for a short time. Dazzlingly bright with an ice-blue colour. The diffraction spikes are emerging from all the cardinal points of the star!
Darn Cloud! It finally ended this session at 02:15 BST and without a glimpse of the mighty Jupiter!
Well the first object on my target list was Epsilon Bootis, Izar (SAO 83500). Izar is the showpiece Double Star in Bootis. A tight binary, the yellow primary star contrasts with the blue secondary. Through the 20mm lens and 2.5x barlow (250x), both components are resolved into individual stars and show a NE-SW arrangement. There is also a third star belonging to this pair, but either I didn't notice it or because at mag 12, the scope failed to resolve it.
Staying in Bootis, Delta (SAO 64589) is a wide Double, easily resolved at any power. At 100x power the pair make an easily resolvable Double. With any more then both stars would be at opposite sides of the fov. The 3rd mag Primary star is bright yellow and far outshines the feeble mag 7.8 companion star. According to the WDS, the pair are widening.
The Long Period Variable; R Bootis (SAO 83440) is close by and I send my scope off to seek it out. This is my first ever observation of the Mira-type and understandably I give it due attention. Checking with charts from the AAVSO, I make an estimate of +8.0. There is a noticeable redness, common to all Mira stars, even at this low luminosity. R Bootis is rapidly fading having risen to maximum earlier in the year. Note to self - must remember to make magnitude estimates of variable stars earlier in their cycles so that I can construct light curves and report my observations to the AAVSO.
To the east of Bootis is the constellation of Corona Borealis. Zeta (SAO 64833) is a pair of blue/white stars separated by 6.4 arc seconds. At 100x, this makes for a nice compact pairing with a sliver of space separating the stars. There is a small difference in brightness between the two of about 1 magnitude. Also in the field-of-view (fov) is a dimmer star of possibly mag 7.
Time is cracking-on, it's now 00:25 BST and I still haven't seen Jupiter! The sky is still good and clear so I will persevere. The constellation of Hercules is due west and Rasalgethi (SAO 102680) is beckoning. A 3rd mag star with a close 5th mag companion. What can make this double star tricky to observe is that Rasalgethi is variable and when it increases brightness then the secondary star came be quite difficult to separate. Also some observers have remarked that the Comes (Double Star speak for Secondary) appears to be green in colour! Tonight the Primary is in a quiescent state and the close Comes can easily be separated at 100x power. This pair is in an almost perfect N-E alignment, being at Position Angle (PA or theta) 105 degrees.
The cloud is slowly starting to blanket the sky. I think that I am not going to see Jupiter during this session! Well, I'm going to make the most of it and squeeze at least one more observation before I am completely clouded-out!
Kappa Hercules, Marfik (SAO 101951) is not far away. The air has become cool Both stars are fairly wide and easily separated. The Primary is yellow and I think that the Comes is blue. It's starting to get difficult, the cloud is starting to have an adverse effect on my observations.
Quickly I drive the scope over to a rapidly decreasing clear patch of sky. Altair, Alpha Aquila (SAO 125122). Even though the cloud is rapidly encroaching across Altair, it is bright enough to resist for a short time. Dazzlingly bright with an ice-blue colour. The diffraction spikes are emerging from all the cardinal points of the star!
Darn Cloud! It finally ended this session at 02:15 BST and without a glimpse of the mighty Jupiter!
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