Struve 971 in Canis Majoris

Steve Bodin
Star: Struve 971 in Canis Majoris
Date & Time: 26 Feb 2002, 9:30pm local
Seeing: 3 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)>
Location of site: Silverdale Wa, USA 47N,123W
Site classification: deep burbs
Sky darkness: 3, full moon <Limiting magnitude>
Telescope: 17 inch Dob, the Bigdog
Eyepiece: Paracorr, 19mm Televue Wide field, 9mm Meade MA
Magnification: 122x, 258x
   
Noticed a third member to the south of the primary, blue-white in color. WDS lists this component as B 2611 at 166 deg, 85 sec. The offending double was hard to crack in 3/10 air, but at 258x the star occasionally changed from a dinner plate sized blur to an elongated streak and sometimes a figure 8. Both components appear yellow, WDS lists F6,7V as spectral class. Tried to image the pair but only got AB-C as the air was too poor.