| Steve Bodin | ||||
| Star:
Alpha Aurigae (Capella)
Date & Time: 8 Feb 2004, 7 pm to 9 pm local Seeing: 5 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)>. Transparency: good Location of site: Silverdale WA, USA 47N 123W Site classification: suburb-rural Conditions: temp 34F, damp Sky darkness: 5 <Limiting magnitude> Telescope: Celestron C8 Eyepieces: not used Additional: DX-8263SL video camera at prime focus Magnification: app. 333x Star: Alpha Aurigae
(Capella)
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Nearly
vertical when viewed, very bright on TV monitor, but one faint close companion
seen with the C8 at prime focus, but this is not the one mentioned in the
Auriga list. Actually the WDS lists a number of companions in addition
to the very, very close primary. Our list has component AH, not measured
since 1898, probably a field star. The one visible in the C8 was AF, HJ2256,
measured
at 112.5 sec at 137.7 deg PA. The outer AG,
AH can be seen at low mags only and the C8 is too much. Switched to a 160mm
f1.8 lens of 2 degree field and many, many field stars can be seen inaddition
to the project star. Very rough measure of
AH is 648 sec at 153 deg PA. Been some motion
in 100+ years. AG measured 518 sec at 347
deg PA. The other B thru E are faint close
, and probably field stars too.
More research stated that the faint distant component H shares common proper motion with the bright primary. Identifying this star is difficult due to the distance from the primary and its faintness. But Burnham states that it is a dwarf M type star, so searched for the orange guys in the general vicinity of the projected position. There are 4 candidates here and the subject star was the second dimmest and in the middle, I'll send a picture to Luis. Also used the Bigdog 17.5 to chase down the faint close listed companions, all field stars, I think. None of these matched the WDS listed positions of 100 years ago, and found 2 extras that did not match anything. But the H component is the real deal, a close double of 10 and 13 mag that I thought could be split. WDS even has a preliminary orbit calculated, which solved to 3.71 sec at 166.2 deg PA for yesterday. Dug the elusive L component out of the mud with the C8 at f10 and camera zoom 2x and integration at x128 frames. Seen dimly on the TV monitor joined to the H component, both very orange. Measured, 3.92 sec at 165.7 deg PA, near the predicted position. AH, our project measure with the C8 at f4, 727.7 sec at 143.4 deg PA.
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