65 Andromedae or Piscium – Double Confusion!

[cloudsweeper]

4.25pm Wednesday, 8SE Cat + Focal Reducer.  Clear sky.  And not as bitterly cold as in recent days!

65 Psc (Sigma 61) – matched 6th mag pair, 4.4 arcsec separation.  Little else in the field, although it was not very dark!  Going from x36 to x73, got the split – close, perfect match, secondary at 11 o’clock.

This one took a bit of working out!  It is in Haas, but in the Cambridge Atlas, it is given as 65 And. It is right on the boundary of the constellations, and despite the title, it can be classed as a star in Andromeda.  To add to the confusion, its SAO number is 74296, but CDSA and Stellarium have it as 74295.  (Other sources list 65 And as a completely different and non-physical double, with the number 23319.)
 
Sigma 3050 And - 6th mag pair, 2.4 arcsec.  Several stars in the x36 FOV.  Got the split at x142.  Very close, good match, sec at 7 o’clock.

Sigma 79 And – quadruple, visible double (2) + (2).  A 6th mag pair again, wider at 7.9 arcsec.  Lovely, busy field.  Split at x73, clear but close, with sec at 8 o’clock.

Sigma 141 And - 8th mag pair, 1.7 arcsec.  Another busy field.  Just got the split at x213 – very close, coming and going with the seeing.  Secondary at 11 o’clock.

Sigma 245 And - 7th and 8th mags, 11 arcsec.  This is a (2) + 1 triple, visual double.  Quite a busy field.  Target is in the middle of a line of three brighter stars.  Clear split at x36, though still very close.  Sec at 11 o’clock.

I also took in Jupiter (two moons either side), Mars (detected some albedo differences), M31 (fuzzy patch, but very clear as usual), and M45 Pleiades cluster.

A very enjoyable hundred minutes, with a bit of a puzzle to solve afterwards!

Doug.

Edited December 22, 2022 by cloudsweeper

[wookie1965]

Just checking my notes I cannot find anything for 65 And but I can for 65 Psc with the SAO of 0742 96 as you say, its in Sissy Haas and Eagle creek. 

 

[cloudsweeper]

Thanks Paul @wookie1965, that confirms what I concluded!

Doug.