Serpens / Corona Borealis 12/06/2024

[Mr Spock]

Region    Serpens / Corona Borealis
    
Date    12/06/2024
Scope    Takahashi FC-100
Eyepieces    42mm LVW x19, 17mm LVW x44, 8mm LVW, x93, 5mm LVW x148, 3.5mm LVW x211
Conditions    Good seeing (no clean airy disks) and poor transparency - mag 4.0 in the direction of Serpens - worse late on due to high cloud.
Note:    All PAs are rough estimates.
    
β Ser    Very bright primary, very faint secondary. Seen at x43 but better at x93. 270°.
Σ 1978    Easy but faint uneven pair at 200° and x44.
AHD 9    Wide, even and faint pair. X43 and 60°.
OΣ 300    Bright with a very faint secondary at 270°, x93.
δ Ser    A bight uneven pair, a lovely sight at x148. 180°.
Σ 1993    A fairly even pair at 60° and x44
κ Ser    Bright and uneven pair at 40° and x44.
Σ 2007    Uneven and wide pair seen at x19. 320°.
OΣ 303    A tight, slightly uneven pair. 180° ok at x 148 but looked better at x211. Would have looked better with clean airy discs.
Σ 1995    Two similar stars close together, the top one of which is double with a faint companion at 320°, x93. I believe the lower star is not related.
Σ 1950    Uneven pair at 90°, easy with x93.
Σ 1932    Close, even pair. WDS says 1.6" but I thought it looked closer - took x211 for it to look a clean split.
Σ 2022    Not seen. A real challenge in these conditions at mag 6.5 + 10.0 and 2.2". Should be doable in better seeing.
Σ 2029    Uneven pair with a faint secondary at 170° and x148. Secondary is 9.6 so shouldn't be faint - noticed high cloud taking the edge off.
Σ 1963    Even pair at either 60° or 300° depending on which is the primary! X93.

I wanted to go on longer but high cloud drifted in and was spoiling my already naturally poor transparency.

I also had a look for T CrB but it was too faint to see.

I might stop estimating PA as I get confused with using a diagonal. For example I recorded Σ 1950 as 270° when it's actually 91°. About 50% are opposite to what they should be, sigh.

[kirkster501]

Super report Michael.  A fabulous area of the sky and one of my most unfamiliar due to it being light so late in the UK and Serpens being quite low over the houses where I live.  I might drive out with the Dob to some clear horizons.

[josefk]

59 minutes ago, Mr Spock said:

For example I recorded Σ 1950 as 270° when it's actually 91°. About 50% are opposite to what they should be, sigh.

If I’ve mixed A and B up then 180 degrees out is good enough so far as I’m concerned. 😂