Struve 2985

Richard Harshaw
Star: Struve 2985 (KZ And, ADS 16557)
Location of site: Northern Kansas City, Missouri (USA) 
94d 30m west longitude, 39d 15m north latitude 
980 ft above Mean Sea Level 
Date of observations (UT): Nov 2, 2000 at 2330
Site classification: suburban 
Sky conditions
seeing--  8 out of 10 (at times, approaching 9)
transparency-- 7 out of 10 (high, thin and spotty clouds, taking perhaps 1magnitude from the starlight)
limiting visual magnitude-- 4.0 mag
Telescope: Celestron C-8 
Eyepiece: 20mm, 104x
 
 
Year of first measurement:  1832, 15.0 / 252
Year of last measurement:  1991
Distance (light years):  96
Luminosity (in suns):  1.54
Eyepiece and magnification:  20mm, 104x
Colors noted:  yW and Y.  Webb saw them as yW, B.
 
B is the variable (a BY Draconis type) and a double-lined spectroscopic binary with a 3.03 day period.  BY Dra stars are flare stars with small regular variations in magnitude during the quiet phase between flares.  They are red dwarfs (so don't ask me to explain how I saw yellow) of spectral type K or M.  The variability is only a few hundredths of a magnitude with a period measured in a few days.  The variability may be due to a bright spot on the surface of the star that rotates in and out of view.
There is a nice little "Y" shaped asterism 10' east.
I rated the star a 3.