Perseids Planets and other things.

[wookie1965]

Set up at about 11.15pm with nearly full cloud had to wait until 11.30pm  spot Polaris get polar aligned, by 12am the clouds had sufficiently cleared to start alignment.

First port of call was Saturn and it was a bit wobbly I knew Jupiter would clear the roof tops soon so went for the supernova.

RS Opiuchi   RA 17h 50m 13   Dec -06° 42` 28"  Obviously just a star but I will keep my eye on this as long as I can see the star dim past where I am able to see it.

Jupiter Next and a bit wobbly but I knew the GRS was going to be there and Io was going to transit the Planet so I kept that in mind.

Swung around to Pegasus caught 2 meteors bright and clear one yellow one green.

 ε (Epsilon)  (SAO 1270 29)  mags of 2.7 and 8.7 with a separation of 144.0"   A nice Lemon star with a tiny companion 

3  (SAO 1269 40)  mags of 6.2 and 7.5 with a separation 38.6"  nice combination of a Yellow and a White double.

1  (SAO 1070 73)  mags of 4.2 and 7.6 with a separation of  35.9"  Yellow with a tiny dot

33  (SAO 0904 62)  mags of 6.3 and 8.5 with a separation of 89.9"  Yellow and a off White combination here.

Σ2978  (SAO 0730 10)  mags of 6.4 and 7.5 with a separation of  8.3"  a bit more mag on these showed a lovely combination of  Yellow and Blue 

By this time it was 1am so swung the scope around to Jupiter the seeing and transparency had improved 10 fold GRS was easily spotted as was Io`s  shadow  5 coloured bands on the planet I was just drinking it in when I could see Io itself start to transit the planet this was a brilliant sight,  this is only the third time I had seen a transit in all my 10 years with a scope and the first two where accidents I had not known in advance there was one I will be keeping my eye on these from now on amazing sight.

Moved over to Saturn with my 10mm vixen and Tal barlow  Cassini was clearly seen and a darker band near the equator on the planet just magical.

on to Perseus looking up this was the first time from my house I could see the whole constellation it was there hanging in the night sky.

γ  (Gamma)  (SAO 0237 89)  mags of 3.1 and 10.8 with a separation of 55.3"  White with a tiny Blueish companion

ζ  (Zeta)    (SAO 0567 99)  mags of 2.9 and 9.2 with a separation of 12.7"  White and Blue again here only the Blue  was easier to see than the last one.

η  (Eta)   Miram  (SAO 0236 55)   mags of 3.8 and 8.5 with a separation of 28.5"  Stunning sight lovely Yellow and Blue combination one of the best and colourful doubles I have seen  truly beautiful.

 Σ162    (SAO 0375 36)  This is a triple system AB are 6.5 and 7.2 with a separation of 1.9" AB-C are 6.5 and 8.4 with a separation of 20.1  a pair of pale Yellow stars with a wider Blue star in a isosceles triangle shape cone if you like.

In among these I saw a further three Perseids,

NGC 1528 a cracking cluster 

NGC 1513  the same really nice cluster with stars really distinct.

NGC 1545 with the conditions being so clear these looked amazing 

M34 wide open cluster which just filled my eyepiece BST 25mm

Not forgetting NGC 884 and NGC 869 the double cluster this is the best I have seen them stars popping out everywhere.

 I just did a couple in Andromeda one particular as it is really tight but as the sky had been so clear I had to try it.

36 (SAO 0743 59)  mags of 6.1 and 6.5 with a separation of 1.0"   both sun like stars but difficult I had to Barlow my  BST 8mm  with the Tal barlow to get X295

ΣΙ 1  (SAO 0541 38  )mags of 7.3 and 7.4 with a separation of 47.1" wide bright twins

Σ 3004  (SAO 0529 27)  mags of 6.3 and 10.1 with a separation of 13.5"  Gold with a tiny speck had to use  my 10mm Vixen with the Tal barlow to split these.

 γ (Gamma) Almach   (SAO 0377 34)   mags of 2.3 and 5.0 with a separation of 9.7"  Although split with my 25mm I used my 15mm to bring out the colours beautiful combination of Orange and Green

 π  (SAO 0540 33)   mags of 4.3 and 7.1 with a separation of 36.0"  straw Yellow with a blue companion.

56  (SAO 0551 07)  mags of 5.8 and 6.1 with a separation of 200.5"   very wide pair of Yellow stars

last but not least NGC 7662 in the 25mm looks like out of focus stat but put the mag up I used my Televue 11mm plossl and the lovely blue marble (Snowball) comes alive,  Jupiter and Saturn had moved too far behind trees to have one last look so packed up for the night.

Highlights obviously the GRS and Io`s transit but Saturn gave one of the best views I have seen the other other highlight was 36 Andromedae to split that was brilliant. 

Disappointment`s  only five meteors I have spent less time out and seen more in recent years I had seen two a couple of nights ago so I was really looking forward to seeing many many more.

Well I hope you enjoy this,

Paul

[cotterless45]

Very enjoyable , Jupiter has provided  stunning views, it's huge ! Miram is an old favourite and easy to find by eye . Well done !

clear skies , Nick.

[Epick Crom]

Great report Paul, loved reading it. Im so jealous of your double cluster observations!