A night in the Garden!
15th November: A very damp and dewy night. I had planned a few hours out in the garden with my scope as the sky was exceptionally clear and I wanted to observe Chi Cygni, to see if it was within range of the scope. As soon as I got home from work, I set the scope up on the patio. At 19:03UT I got the variable within the fov of the 20mm lens. The star did seem fairly bright, a redish colour. Mindful of the fact that I didn't want to star at it too much and bias my magnitude estimate, I grabbed 3 short looks while comparing it to stars of +6.4 and +8.1. Checking with my AAVSO chart, My estimate is +7.9 and this agrees quite well with other reports made to the AAVSO.
Afterwards, I dropped down to view Beta Cygni, Albireo, one of the 'showpiece' doubles of the sky. Even at 200x, this is a marvelous colour contrast double with wide components. The primary yellow with the secondary star's blue colour make for a splendid sight!
I remembered that the Luminous Blue Variable, P Cygni (SAO 69773) is also a target that should be checked upon from time to time. Moving the scope up towards the star, I noticed that the dew had gotten to the faceplate of the scope. The trusty cheapo hair-dryer is a useful too for drying off any excess dew. No self-respecting astronomer should be without one! What always worries my is the noise that these things make. By now it was 10pm and all was quiet, so switching on the hair-dryer broke the still and quiet of the night! But after a few minutes, the plate was dry and I was back in business! P Cygni should appear to be blue in colour but tonight and to me it was white. A bright star, comparing it to Eta Cygni, I reasoned that its visual magnitude must be +5.1. Needs more observation and before Cygnus sinks from view, I will grab at least another two observations before the year is out!
As the dew was getting worse and I had to go to work in the morning, one more observation was all that I could do. Delta Cepheus, the Cephid Variable and Double Star was the target. Again this is a Yellow primary star with a wide blue star for the companion. It lies in a starfield that is always interesting to view. The constellation is high in the sky and this always makes for good observations. So at 23:30UT, I switched off the scope, dismantled the mount and ended the session.
Afterwards, I dropped down to view Beta Cygni, Albireo, one of the 'showpiece' doubles of the sky. Even at 200x, this is a marvelous colour contrast double with wide components. The primary yellow with the secondary star's blue colour make for a splendid sight!
I remembered that the Luminous Blue Variable, P Cygni (SAO 69773) is also a target that should be checked upon from time to time. Moving the scope up towards the star, I noticed that the dew had gotten to the faceplate of the scope. The trusty cheapo hair-dryer is a useful too for drying off any excess dew. No self-respecting astronomer should be without one! What always worries my is the noise that these things make. By now it was 10pm and all was quiet, so switching on the hair-dryer broke the still and quiet of the night! But after a few minutes, the plate was dry and I was back in business! P Cygni should appear to be blue in colour but tonight and to me it was white. A bright star, comparing it to Eta Cygni, I reasoned that its visual magnitude must be +5.1. Needs more observation and before Cygnus sinks from view, I will grab at least another two observations before the year is out!
As the dew was getting worse and I had to go to work in the morning, one more observation was all that I could do. Delta Cepheus, the Cephid Variable and Double Star was the target. Again this is a Yellow primary star with a wide blue star for the companion. It lies in a starfield that is always interesting to view. The constellation is high in the sky and this always makes for good observations. So at 23:30UT, I switched off the scope, dismantled the mount and ended the session.
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