Johnny81

24/09/2024 Had a couple of hours of relatively clear spells with the odd patch of cloud - so I decided to try a few of the dimmer Struve doubles in Aquila... This was a test for my 127mm Mak, purposely selecting slightly dimmer stars in a relatively close area of sky. STF 2389: with a secondary listed at magnitude 11.88 I held no hopes on this one... but something was jutting out but there is a wide 31.8" separation... this must have been my eyes playing tricks STF 2396: 11th mag secondary and 82'' separation - couldn't see a thing even using averted vision. Any star near or at 11th mag seems nearly invisible from my location STF 2402: 8.94 mag primary and a 9th mag secondary invisible at a 1.4'' separation - seemed impossible whilst trying at x187. STF 2404: A nice close pair of 3.61 separation - yellow primary but couldn't note the colour of the companion. STF 2408: A 2'' separation doesn't seem like too much trouble for the Mak but the pair are dim at 8 and 9th magnitudes to see anything meaningful. STF 2428: Faint secondary of mag 10.31 with a separation of 7'' popping with averted vision. PA approx. 280°. Star right next to ε Aquilae. STF 2442: Widish pair at 10'' with an approx. PA: 200°. Yellow primary. Located in a pretty area of the sky above ε Aquilae. STF 2464: Couldn't split these at all - the Mak and my eyes are struggling with dimmer stars at 1.5 mag difference and a super tight 1.16'' separation (needs much more power!). STF 2468: 8.80 mag primary and 9.66 mag, over 7'' separation with the companion at approx. PA: 240°. This one wasn't too much of an issue. STF 2471: No split on this one - 7.4 and 10.64 magnitudes at a separation of 8.5'' should be doable... STF 2489: Close dim companion at approx. PA: 330° with a mag difference of 3.63 - quite the comparison from the much brighter blue/white primary. A nice double, best of the evening. STF 2506: Faint companion at mag 10.46 with decent 17'' separation which required some averted vision to see. PA approx. 330° STF 2518: Nope - no split, secondary invisible at 5'' separation (8.24 and 10.48 pair) STF 2520: 9th and 10th mag pair at 1.8'' couldn't resolve at x187. Many failed splits seems a case of biting off more than I can chew but a good test of limitations. The resolving power of a 5'' scope on dim stars/pairs is a struggle, taking into account light pollution and seeing. I don't think it helps Aquila getting a little low now either (although I stayed mainly in the northern regions). Time for a bigger scope or darker skies? I felt I just couldn't 'get in there' enough with a few of these. I could try going above x187 power but it just gets a bit horrid and more magnification doesn't seem to help at times.

A decent haul of doubles in Aquila - making sure I got the ones I listed last week before the constellation truly disappears into the murk. Sky very washed out with the moon rising above the house at around 21:45. The waning gibbous moon looked awesome though, especially around the region of the disappearing Mare Crisium. Clouds rolled in at 22:20. Think we're in for some wet weather now....

Some clear patches but cloud moving rapidly... sad to say after a good run of clear evenings but the clouds are back!

Continuing in Cygnus - 17/09/2024 127mm Maksutov-Cassegrain on AZ4 alt-Az mount. Another evening of good seeing with the moon low behind my house till about 10pm... Mu Cyg (STF 2822): Nik271 set the challenge and... couldn't see a secondary at all at x187. Shame because we don't know how long this decent seeing will last. Another time perhaps. 49 Cyg (STF 2716): Tricky although only a 2.5 mag difference at 2.8'' separation but glimpses of secondary at approx. PA: 45o. STF 2702: Faint close pair (3.14''), secondary at approx. PA: 200o. STF 2624: Easy split at 1.9'', white primary and secondary looked yellowish. AC component much wider at approx PA: 320o (almost above primary) STF 2663: Near Gamma Cyg. Slightly fainter secondary 5'' away from the primary at approx. PA: 300o STF 2666: Near Gamma Cyg. Tight 2.8'' pair , a few other dimmer stars in the region. A pretty little area of sky, worth a look if you haven't already. The swan was getting up towards the zenith by now so we're in neck breaking territory...... STF 2588: Wider 9.6'' equal whitish pair Delta Cyg (STF 2579): Reasonably easy at x150 and x187. 2.5'' separation and looked like a little pimple on the airy disk. Psi Cyg (STF 2605): An easy 2.86'' split at x150, the secondary at approx. 180o STF 2681: 10th mag secondary not seen even with a 6.8'' separation, but a much wider companion (38'') observed at PA: 180o. STF 2658: Faint close secondary approx. PA: 90o from primary STF 2671: I noted a golden close secondary at 3.5'' but easily split at x150. STF 2611: Equal whitish pair STF 2486: Fairly close (7'') equal white pair STF 2576: Another equal pair which looked rather dim, notably looking on top of each other at x150/x187

Went out as soon as darkness hit. Finished off most of a list I made of doubles in Cygnus, making the most of the decent seeing. I didn't plan well though, by 10pm Deneb and anything along that plain is high in the sky and my 40+ year old body isn't that accustomed to Yoga... and the little Mak was vertical on the AZ40. The Moon was above the house by this point and had some nice quick views before packing up.

Thank you for your comments. Yes - I think I can push the mak more. I think I have been put off in the past due to some failures of splitting really close stars. However, I think that might have more to do with magnitude difference than separation. I shall keep going - it will be many years of work going through the Struve list and I am going to have to split a few more close pairs!

16/09/2024 - 19:53 - 22:07 Good seeing - although some high cloud with moon beginning to wash out from about 21:15. Luckily the moon is behind my house at the moment. All in Cygnus with a focus on some more Struve entries (and others). Cygnus is fun as there are a lot of stars, especially in the Gamma Cyg (Sadir region) and easy to get lost. But nothing the trusty 9x50 RACI can't find (sort of)…. STF 2762: Near Zeta Cyg. This was really nice. Tight A-B split at 3.34'' requiring x150 in the Mak 127mm and a wider A-C component. STF 2700: Well separated, lovely yellow-orange primary STF 2633: Very difficult, stuff of nightmares... went back to this a few times in the evening. Couldn't see the 11th mag companion even at over 11'' separation. Moon not helping. Two faint wider 11th mag stars at approx. PA: 220/270o assured me I was looking at the right star when I compared to Simbad imagery. Apparently a quadruple system. Worthy of further investigation with the moon clears off. STF 2639: Lovely easy pair at x100 in a lovely area of stars. STF 2578: A nice slightly unequal white pair. STF 2534: Dim (8th mag) pair, easy split at x100 29 Cyg: Situated in a rich area of the heavens. Wide optical companions STT 394: Easy pair but companion rather faint at roughly PA: 300o . I am going to stop saying clock positions as I did in my debut Hercules report because the position is mirrored anyway... 19 Cyg: faint companion with a golden primary HJ 1470: Widish unrelated 9th mag secondary STF 2609: Partial split of a 1.8'' secondary! Was amazed I could see this and I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. Pushed at x150 (going up to x187 with the 8mm in the mak is just blegh). I am usually amazed if I can see anything tighter than the easier of the two Double Double stars in Lyra... I managed 42 individual double stars over the weekend in Vulpecula, Sagitta and Aquila so I am not going to do a full report here. But one star is baffling me: Does anyone know much about or has observed the variable/double X Sge? Also listed as BUP 203 (I don't know what BUP is unless it is an extended Burnham catalogue)?. This star was shown on the listing for doubles in Sagitta using Virtalcolony site although the set parameters were: Constellation =SGE, Separation > 4.0, Magnitude of Primary <10.0, and Magnitude Difference < 5.0 Stelle Doppie and Simbad list companions of 12-13 mag with separations wider than 13'' but on Stellarium the star is visually shown as having an 8.3 mag close companion?? Nevertheless, very red colour but really tiny even at x150 through a 127mm Mak and any companions too dim to see.

Despite the odd patch of high cloud - the seeing is really good here, definitely a good doubles night, splitting some tighter pairs in Cygnus. Just on drinks break....

Very nice. I have shunned much of Ophiuchus as the south west is mainly houses and trees from my garden.. really murky as well but anything from Beta and Kappa northwards is OK but I really need to diary these for next Summer (probably August as it is dark at 9pm rather than 10 or 11pm!).

Decent seeing last night warmer evening as well, with only some wobble on Saturn which peeked above my house at 10.40ish! Looked absolutely fantastic in the mak 127. Plenty of double star spotting in Aquila and Sagitta but some wash out from the moon below, not to mention the light pollution both the usual and every single neighbour light on. Stars looking like perfect fried eggs at x100 plus.. airy disk or collamation issue?? Also the biggest house spider i have ever seen on the kitchen floor whilst packing up before bed time....

Report of the following night: 11/09/2024 20:44-22:22 GMT (UTC+1) Starting back in the lower depths of Hercules (above his head). STF 2040: this double is close to Omega Her (Cujam). I managed a split but the sky conditions although clear were pretty bad and being lower in the thicker air, I couldn't make out much detail. STF 2087: Same as above, couldn't make out much detail at x100 or x150. Any higher power - the quality deteriorates and things get narrow down the little Mak... STF 2056: Bordering Ophiuchus, stars were split but couldn't make out any detail on colour STF 2135: Nice pair - I noted yellowish and whitish with the secondary at 7 o'clock - (I don't have the capacity to work out position angles in my brain whilst simultaneously squinting at tiny dots in a telescope) STF 2120: Found it hard to tell the colours on this one but companion at 5 o'clock Moving towards the Left arm: STF 2165: I recommend checking this one out. I could see 3 stars - the brighter with a faint close companion and another much wider star. It is a quadruple system according to Stelle Doppie but not sure if the third star I seen is the true AC component. Hopped over to Epsilon Aquilae as a starting point to hop to some doubles in the very east of Hercules. Don't think I have been here before! STF 2411: Had to use averted vision to pop the secondary situated at 9 o'clock - not very descript STF 2330: Took a little while to find even in my trusty RACI 9x50. Situated in the middle of a triangle of 7th magnitude stars above the variable RX Her. My notes just said: faint pair - murky conditions Back towards the left arm to some of the best doubles I have ever observed 95 Her (STF 2264): Lovely bright almost equal paring - I noted blue and yellow colours, wonderful sight. 100 Her (STF 2280): Magnificent bright pair! I noted both having a white colour with hint of mauve (or I've been staring at red light too long)..... Thank you for the recommendation Lunator! Back up to the Keystone to the easy to find Rho Her (STF 2161): Nice whitish close bright pair of stars and finally up to the border with Draco and just below Rastaban (Beta Draconis) is another one of those smiley face asterisms (not as good as the one in Auriga though) with the right eye containing: STF 2142: Could not split at all - couldn't prize anything out at x150. Another good night hunting doubles but I swear it's either my eyes, the atmosphere or that light pollution felt twice as worse as the previous night....

Thanks! I use virtualcolony with parameters set for Separation > 4.0, Magnitude of Primary <10.0, and Magnitude Difference < 5.0 and that star is on the list for the next outing. Hopefully might get a couple of hours tonight although the clearest sky looks best from midnight and it's work tomorrow...

My first 'proper' post here so be gentle.... I do not do any photography so it is good old fashioned descriptions I'm afraid! All from 10/09/2024 between 20:27-22:58 GMT (+1UT) from my back garden in Northamptonshire. Skywatcher 127mm Mak - 10mm, 15mm and 25mm plossls on an AZ4 mount. I started reasonably low to the south west aiming for the brighter star triangle in Serpens (Caput) - from there it is a line from Beta Ser through Phi Ser onto the first target 49 Ser (which is actually in Hercules). 49 Ser (STF 2021): A lovely little pair of yellow stars. Moving towards the head of Hercules 56 Her (STF 2110): My notes mention a faint 10th magnitude secondary - couldn't see much colour in either star even pushing the little Mak to x150 I then hop way down towards Ophiuchus before it gets lost in the trees and houses... very murky down there... 36-37 Her (STFA 31): I couldn't prize the 11th Mag from 36 Her but the two brighter stars make a nice white slightly unequal pair. Moving back up to the lovely Alpha Her (STF 2140): the most awesome orange and blue double which acted as a guide as I hopped into uncharted territory moving west to find STF 2103: I couldn't split this at all, x100 and x150... I was going to grab the the 8mm from the box but gave up. The dew is forming already and I couldn't see much through my beloved 9x50 upright finder - so indoors to get a stock finder.... working in reverse is fun... To the left Arm of Hercules where there are some spectacular patterns of stars with the aim to find STF 2259: A nice yellow and blue STF 2232: Reddish companion at the '3 o'clock' position to the primary STF 2213: Noted a faint pairing that looked similar to each other STF 2194: Noted an orangish companion STF 2190: This was tricky but prized something out but should be a 9.5mag with a 10'' separation. The 6th Mag was probably outshining the companion here, bit uncertain. Located in a lovely V-shaped asterism of stars STF 2085: Didn't take any notes on this one Back into the main body of Hercules, taking a little peak at M13 and then hopping over a degree east to STF 2104: Noted with a nice little bluish companion Finally hopping up to the keystone, specifically Eta Her as a guide to STF 2063: I noted a White star with an orangish companion A nice evening of doubles despite my kit becoming sopping wet in the process... Could have seen a few more doubles but these are unfamiliar areas of space and takes time to find stuff especially low down! Comments and corrections welcome.

Thanks Tony and everyone else! I probably know the village, M1 J18 area has certainly got busier... Yeah - always want more kit but the bills and kids put pay to that! Less light pollution and cloud would go a long way to help as I am sure is true for most of us!

Hello Everyone! I am John and have been reading about astronomy since I was in primary school and have been at the scope since I was 15 but very on and off until the last 5 years or so then got much more serious (not sure why I haven't joined this site yet). I own a very basic set up of a Skywatcher Mak 127mm and a Skywatcher 120mm Refractor and various eyepieces from 40 - 8mm. Also a trusty pair of 7x50s bins Much prefer manually tracking objects on my AZ4 - ditching GOTO a while ago. Main interest is double stars (currently working through what I can realistically see in the Struve catalogues) and variables - far too much light pollution here for anything serious to do with DSOs (don't have the big kit either). Cheers!