A few doubles in Piscium and a bit of Lunar

[grjsk]

8. october, 2022: Langhus, Norway (60°N, 11°E) – Bortle 6 

Equipment: 72mm doublet, Az-gti, Lacerta 40mm/68*, ES 8.8mm/82* and ES 4.7/82*

 

I had a short list of doubles in Piscium I wanted to check out, so I walked over to my usual observing spot. What I had failed to realize was that an almost full moon would be right next to Piscium. Double stars are rather forgiving targets, but still, poor planning on my part. 

Since I recently discovered that I have a bit of astigmatism in my observering eye, I thought I'd try to switch. I observe with an eye patch, keeping both eyes open, so it went okay, but I took a bit more time find the correct eye position. This is also the first time I leave my zooms behind, and only go out with fixed 82 degree options. 

 

35 Psc - Mag: 6.1, 7.5, Sep: 12”, PA: 148°

Easy split at 49x. Perhaps a hint of yellow? I think the moon was washing away alot of the colors this night. 

 

38 Psc - Mag: 7.1, 7.7, Sep: 4”, PA: 139°

Peanut-shaped at 49x. Barely a split at 92x. No colors at all. 

 

74 Psc - Mag: 5.32, 5.45, Sep: 30”, PA: 159°

Easy split even at 11x. It was impossible to get a good view with my left eye, the astigmatism is very noticable now that I know that it is there. No problems with the right eye though. They both appear colorless. Pretty. 

 

55 Psc - Mag: 5.42, 8.49, Sep: 6.6”, PA: 192°

No split at 49x. I get it at 92x, but the B component seems a lot fainter than 8.49. I think perhaps a thin layer of clouds got in the way here, barely noticable. I actually look at the wrong star for a bit on this one. The jump from 40mm to 8.8mm is big enough that I lost control over where to look, even with tracking. That would'nt have happened with a zoom..

 

Since the moon is right around the corner, I turn my attention to it. The Grimaldi basin catches my eyes right away. Close to the terminator, it naturally pops out. I travel upwards and follow the Hevelius and Cavalerius craters. I discover later by checking out the excellent "21st Century Atlas of the Moon" by Wood and Collins that there are some structures within Hevelius, but I have not made any notes about them. 

I continue along the terminator, and spend some time at Cardanus and Kraft. I know there are a crater chain between them, but I cant see it. 72mm and 92x isnt enough here I suppose. My last stop for the evening is the Struve crater. Because of the angle it looks more like a mountain side than a crater to my eyes.

 

I had contemplated getting rid of my zooms to fund more fixed wide field eyepieces, but this evening changed my mind. I really missed the ability to zoom back and forth both on the double stars and the moon. Wide angle eyepieces are great, especially on big open clusters, but I still like my zooms on these targets.

A great evening overall.

 

 

 

 

Edited October 12, 2022 by grjsk

[Stu]

Nice report @grjsk, an enjoyable read 👍

[wookie1965]

Love it I am going to write those doubles down thank you for posting.