Alpha Cephei

 
Steve Bodin
Star: Alpha Cephei
Date & Time: July 19 and 20, 2002
Seeing: 3 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)>
Transparency: fair
Location: Silverdale WA, USA
47N,123W
Site classification: Suburban
Sky darkness: 4.5 <Limiting magnitude>
Telescope: Meade 107D on ETX mount
for visual and 17.5 inch DOB for video
Eyepieces: 24mm Koenig, 19mm Televue,
10mm Homebuilt, 7mm Ortho
Magnification: 42x, 52x,100x,143x
Additional: PC164C video		 Visual in the 4 inch at 52x the field is peppered with faint blue stars. The primary is very bright and a white-yellow color. The video at prime focus showed many stars in the field. The secondary is actually a triple that has not been measured since 1907 and then only once. The CD components are of 11th magnitude and quite close. Measurements; AB 198.4 sec at 16 deg PA, BC 22.0 sec at 166 deg PA, CD 2.5 sec at 103 deg PA.


 
 

 

 
Bob Hogeveen
Star: Alpha Cephei
Date & Time: July 29, 2002 (23.00) 
Seeing: 6 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)>
Transparency: 5 <1-10, 10 best>
Location of site: Annen, The Netherlands, 53N, 6E 
Site classification: Village backyard 
Sky darkness: 4 <Limiting magnitude>
Moon: 3/4 moon below horizon
Conditions: 
Telescope: C11 
Eyepieces:: 40mm Pentax SMC XL, 30mm Ultima, 20mm TV plossl, 10mm plossl
Magnification: 70x, 90x, 140x, 280x
Harshaw Scale: 5 <1-5; 1 best>
 		 Observation made in half-twilight. At 70x the faint companion could only be glimpsed with averted vision. It comes out better with 140x. No colors seen, maybe with a more dark skybackground there is more to be seen.
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
Stuart Clough 
Star: Alpha Cephei
Date & Time: 03.08.02, 2125 - 2135 UT
Seeing: 6 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)>
Transparency:  <1-10, 10 best>
Location: Near Halifax, West Yorkshire, England.
Site classification: Suburban
Sky darkness: 4.0(U.Mi.) <Limiting magnitude>
Temperature: 12ºC 
Conditions: 1/8 cloud, light NE'ly breeze, some high haze unevenly distributed
Telescope: Orion Optics UK GX250, 10" f/4.8 Newtonian
Mount: Vixen GP 
Magnification: 60x
 		 Had to look hard to see the optical companion in the twighlit sky, first found with averted vision at the expected PA, but soon seen quite clearly as a faint spark, perhaps a pale blue one. Alderamin itself seen aswhite and used as a starting point to the evening's starhop. 20mm Plossl, x60, used throughout.

Ambiance:
A warm, humid evening - but surprisingly few bugs, Astronomical twilight still lasting past midnight British Summer Time, so the sky only darkens very slowly after the 21:15 BST sunset, thus plenty of time to cool down the scope, get a good polar alignment, and I hoped, do a really good star test on the newly collimated 10" as the brighter stars appeared. Not to be. The seeing wouldn't stand a sufficiently high power to really get it right.

The Vivaldi on a the stereo was nice though, as was the absence of switched on porch and security lights as it gradually got darker. Ophiuchus mostly hidden by trees and roofs. A look at Eta Cass. in the twilight was magical - really seemed like Burnham's topaz and garnet image rather than my more mundane yellow and red.
 
 
 
Luis Argüelles
Star: Alpha Cephei
Date & Time: 11, August, 2002, 
1:50 am local time
Seeing: 5->3 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)>. 
Transparency: 6
Location of site: Sena de Luna, Spain
Elevation: 1,200 m.
Site classification: Rural
Temperature: 18ºC
Humidity: ~ 35%
Sky darkness: ~5 <Limiting magnitude> 
Telescope: Takahashi FS-102
Mount: Vixen GP w/Skysensor 2000
Eyepieces: 20mm Eudiascopic
Magnification: 41x
HS: 4 <1-5 Scale (1 best)>
     		 This is more difficult than beta, but not because difference of magnitude (secondary component is very far from primary) but because scondary faintness, being a bit difficcult to observe with direct vision. The primary is a pristine white. Observed with the 20mm Eudiascopic at 41x
 
 
 
 
 

 

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