Full of Stars – 22 April, 2009

Location: at home in Tomball, TX
Cloud cover: 0%
Transparency: n/r, est. average (3/5)
Seeing: n/r, est. poor (2/5)
Darkness: no moon, city glow
Wind: light, less than 5 mph
Temperature: 75º+
Humidity: n/r
Dew Point: 45º-55º
Time: 8:45 pm – 10:00 pm CDT
OTA: 8″ SC

ε Boötis DBL very close pair, cannot split in 12.5mm except in rare moments of good seeing (poor seeing generally), appeared as oval with red and blue sides. completely blurred in bad seeing.

M81 GAL UMa very faint fuzzy with no detail.

ξ Boötis DBL est. mag 4 white and mag 5 orange, close pair easily split in 12.5mm. Wikipedia lists ξ Boötis A as 4.5-4.7 G8 variable and 7.0 K4.

κ Boötis DBL est. mag 4 blue and mag 5 /yellow, close pair easily split in 12.5mm. Wikipedia lists them as 4.5 A8 and 6.6 F1.

M3 GC west of M13 (which was behind the house in the NE ) – wide fuzzy, no individual stars visible.

Mizar DBL est. mag 2 blue and 2.5 white. close pair easily split in 12.5mm. Wikipedia lists them asmag 2.2 A1 and mag 4 A7.

Cor Caroli DBL est mag 2 blue/white and mag 3.5 yellow/green, another easy split. Wikipedia lists them as mag 2.8-3.0 variable A0 and mag 5.5 F0.

My estimates were much worse tonight than last night, especially the secondaries.

UMaj doubles and Saturn poorly seen – 12 April 2008

location: Tomball, TX
time: 830pm-1130pm
cloud cover: 0%
transparency: 100%
seeing: poor (2/5)
darkness: city sky glow, 1st quarter moon
wind: 2-5mph n
humidity: 40% up to 60%
temperature: 65F-52F
dewpoint: 40F-43F

ξ UMaj – slightly yellow, could not split with 7.9mm

ν UMaj – golden primary, could not split, used SNP to verify that nearby star was not secondary

Mizar – nearly identical, bright pair with a touch of blue hue, close but easily split

Englemann 43 – easily split even with 25mm. SNP lists these stars as HIP50505 (primary) and TYC3007-899-1 (secondary). I can’t find a reference to this star anywhere except the Sky & Telescope article.

Saturn – seeing varied from 3/5 to 1/5, usually 2/5. ring shadow inside ring edge; south equatorial belt occasionally visible. Titan clear but could not discern color. Rhea mostly visible but occasionally obscured. Tethys near rings faint and rarely visible. several stars visible nearby, including mag 7 HIP50473.

M3 – faint but unmistakable. in good seeing individual stars visible both fringe and interior.

Measured true field width of 25mm using dec readout. Star at left edge (58′ 38″) and right edge (22′ 54″) indicates true field with is 35′ 44″. SNP calculated the field at 37′, so I feel confident that the view in SNP matches the actual field during observation.