Later Morning Session - Poor Conditions, Still Enjoyable

[cloudsweeper]

4.00am - still, mild, some thin cloud - got 8SE from shed, and aligned on Jupiter, low in south.  The Galilean moons were lined up to the west, and the equatorial belts easily seen, but the disc was shimmering, even at low mag, so not a good sign!  Also, transparency was poor, the targets low, the waning crescent Moon was low in the SE, and the sky generally not very dark then, so I wasn't expecting too much!

Zubenelgenubi (Alpha 1,2 Lib, the southern claw of nearby Scorpius) - located with SAO number - quintuple, but visual triple (3.9 and 4.6 minutes) - very easy with that separation, but only two of the three were evident, no doubt due to conditions.  (Incidentally, the Cambridge Double Star Atlas mistakenly names this star as Zubeneschamali, the northern claw.  Hope I'm correct here.)

Zubenelhakrabi (Gamma Lib) - a binary - orange giant with faint companion at 43".  Only the pale orange primary was seen - no companion, or third, unrelated star to south.

M13 glob in Hercules - could hardly fail to get a result with this, but M5 glob in Serpens remained a fuzzy patch.  (Stellarium calls it the Rose Cluster - the latest version gives many more names to objects).

IC 4665, Summer Beehive (open) Cluster, Ophiuchus - about a dozen stars, clear but not very bright (= sharper stars, less scatter, nicer view), a large, loose cluster, with a "HI" pattern.

NGC 6633 - open cluster in Ophiuchus - a couple of dozen stars, also clear  - a smaller cluster, fairly loose, very pleasing.  (Under better conditions, this has appeared as a tighter grouping of many more stars.)

Finished at 5.35 with dew on the plate and shield, and a beautiful morning chorus from the blackbirds.  Despite unfavourable conditions, a good start to the day!

Doug.

[Stu]

Another good session in the bag Doug, I do admire your ability to drag yourself out of bed for early morning sessions on a regular basis, and to crack on even if conditions aren't great. All credit to you!

[chiltonstar]

4 am - best time of the day Stu!

Good report, I'll look up Z'genubi to see if it is an error.

Chris

[Paz]

Nice report. Last night when putting out the rubbish  I thought about going out early in the morning but then I didn't wake up!

[Stu]

Zubenelgenubi

Shown as attached in dear old SkySafari

 

[cloudsweeper]

That's the one @Stu - Alpha 1, 2 were clear, but not the third component.  And as I said, the CDSA, 2015 Edition, page 131, gives the name Zubeneschamali to this system.  (It's a great book of course, so we can forgive this! )

Doug.

[chiltonstar]

35 minutes ago, cloudsweeper said:

That's the one @Stu - Alpha 1, 2 were clear, but not the third component.  And as I said, the CDSA, 2015 Edition, page 131, gives the name Zubeneschamali to this system.  (It's a great book of course, so we can forgive this! )

Doug.

There are a few errors in CDSA, but it is a great book as you say!

I imagine the error may have arisen because alpha and beta are the wrong way round in Libra (brightness). The corrupted Arabic names for alpha and beta don't even seem to be listed in Stelle Doppie.

Chris

[johnfosteruk]

Sounds like an enjoyable session Doug. My Jovian views were at a much lower mag with binoculars, so no shimmering for me

 

[cloudsweeper]

4 minutes ago, johnfosteruk said:

Sounds like an enjoyable session Doug. My Jovian views were at a much lower mag with binoculars, so no shimmering for me

 

It was more noticeable than usual, John - I was using my usual "starter EP", the 36mm Hyperion Aspheric (a nice, light, widefield piece of glass) giving just x56.

Doug.