Double stars and clusters in Cassiopeia (19.02.20)

[grjsk]

The whole evening was spent in the Cassiopeia neighborhood. This was my first time in this region of the skies, so all observations were first-timers!

I was unable to travel to my dark site (Bortle 5) this evening so I walked over to my “local” dark site in the woods right by my apartment (Bortle 8). Clear skies, about 0 °C.

For this session I only used a 32 mm Plossl (22x) and the Baader Zoom with a barlow attached throughout the night (60x – 178x). With only two pieces to swap between, I maximized time spent at the eyepiece. I am considering purchasing a 5 mm eyepiece though. The zoom with a barlow gives me a jump from 120x to 178x. 178x often feels too much, and I think I would like something in between. Another option is the purchase the Baader Barlow which gives 2,25x, which in turn would give me 101x, 135x and 202x. We’ll see.

 

Achird (Eta Cas): Striking double star. The main star is a yellow G3V, and the smaller companion an orange K7V. A nice pair, clear separation at 60x. Both stars stand out nicely in its surroundings. Looks good at 72x and 90x as well, but I think I preferred it at 60x.

Struve 163: Another double. Wide split at 60x. The main star is a K4 star, with a light orange tone.

Owl Cluster: Very nice at 60x. The eyes (Phi Cas and HD 7902) both looked more white than yellow to my eyes. V466 Cas (M1.5lb) stands out as bright eye-catching object. The whole cluster actually looks a lot more interesting than it does in Skysafari. Highly recommended.

M103: Preferred it at 120x. There is less going on than in the Owl Cluster, but still a nice view. I was hoping the red supergiant SAO 11826 would stand out more than it did though.

Double Cluster: Wow. Just wow. Now we’re talking. Nicely framed in the 32 mm Plossl. Truly magnificent. I think this perhaps is my favorite object so far in my amateur astronomy career (6 months give or take) so far. I’ll definitely get back to this one.

Iota Cas: In my notes I have written that I spilt the C component at 72x, and that I split all three at 90x. This seem to be rather good! It looked very nice at both 120x and 178x. Not a whole lot of color though; the primary looked white, the second had the smallest hint of yellow, while the last one was simply a light dot.

NGC 633: A fairly small open cluster. I must admit that this one was a bit of a disappointment, but I think the wow factor of the double cluster was the reason for this. I need to visit this one at another time.

And a few phone pictures at the end:

[Doc]

That was lovely read, sounds like you had a great night. The double cluster always amazes, I have been looking at it for more then 20 years now and it still captivates me everytime.

[RobertI]

Nice report, glad you are enjoying your observing so much. Nice phone shots too!

[Ciaran Meier]

Nice snap of the double cluster. 

[GlenM]

A very nice well written report. I hope to see more like that. Some of my favourite subjects to visit also.

 

Glen.

 

 

[Jiggy 67]

Great report, the Double Cluster is indeed amazing and you picked the exact right focal length for it, my Celestron 32mm Plossl frames the double cluster perfectly 

[wookie1965]

I love NGC 457 great cluster and you can spend hours just looking at doubles and multiple star's here. 

Great report nice read. 

[Stu]

Yes, very good report. I did something very similar the other night. So many lovely open clusters in Cassiopeia; NGC457 is one of my favourites too.

Have a look at NGC2169 in Orion, the 37 cluster; you will know why when you see it (if you haven't already). I love the tiny little double star in the corner of the three.