Lambda Cygni 

 
Richard Harshaw
Star: Lambda Cygni 
Date & Time: Enf of July, 2001
Seeing: 8 down to 6 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)>
Transparency: 7 down to 5 <1-10 Transparency Scale (10 best)>
Temperature: 30ºC ( 86ºF)
Location of site: Kansas City, USA
Site classification: suburban 
Sky darkness: 4.5 <Limiting magnitude>
Telescope: Celestron 11" SCT f/10
Eyepiece: 5mm Lanthanum 
Magnification: 560x 
Harshaw rating: 3		 I noted colors of W and yW, and rated the pair a 3.  Suprisingly good image!
(Cor, this is one of your Challenging pairs)

Ambience:  I'm not one to normally go on much about the ambience, but tonight I'll indulge a little.  I am taking a break from observing as high clouds rolled in about 30 minutes ago and will probably be here for about an hour or so.  It is hot.  Very hot.  86 F (30 C), and humidity about equal to the dry bulb in F.  My T-shirt is soaked, my hair is wet.  No wind.  Just hot.  And humid.  The kind of hot, steamy night that playwrights create steamy dramas about.  The kind of hot, steamy night where even cats find singing to be too painful.  So hot and steamy that your sweat forms great globs and drops from your ear lobes and nose like hail stones.  At least at this point, the dew point is so low I don't have to worry about dewing the objective!
 

 
Thad Robosson
Star: Lambda Cygni
Date & Time: Aug 25th, 2001
Seeing: 6 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)>. 
Transparency: 7
Location of site: Cherry Rd., USA
34 31.136N, -112 05.078W
Elevation: 4435 Ft
Site classification: Rural
Sky darkness: -- <Limiting magnitude> 
Conditions: Clear, with 1 rst quarter moon lighting the way
Telescope: 8" f/6 Newtonian on EQ mount. 
Eyepieces: TV 5 Radian
Magnification: 240x 		 Too bright to be certain.  Diffraction rings interferred.  I tried 400x, but this was too high for the conditions.  120x was too low a power.  Closest I came to a split was a thought of elongation North/South.
 
 
 

 

 
Jim Phillips
Star: Lambda Cygni
Date & Time: September 21, 2001
Seeing: 8 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)>. 
Location of site: Charleston, South Carolina USA
Site classification: Suburban
Sky darkness: -- <Limiting magnitude> 
Temperature. 82º F, Hazy
Telescope: 9" F/15 apo Astrophysics refractor (folded design)
Eyepieces: 6mm Zeiss
Magnification:  572x
 

Star: Lambda Cygni
Date & Time: July 20, 2002
Seeing: 6 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)>
Transparency: 5 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)>
Location of site: Greenwood, South Carolina USA
Site classification: Suburban
Sky darkness: 3.0 <Limiting magnitude> 
Temperature. 
Telescope: TMB 8" F/9
Eyepieces: Binoviewer with and without  barcon
plus extension (3.2X)Zeiss abbe orthos, 4mm, 10mm, 16mm and 34mm Brandons, 12mm
Magnification: 586x

 Used up to 572X. Image not steady. AC unit next door on. Mount not 
completely secured to floor yet. Still need to add three metal cables 
to floor (1200 QMD mount). Ocassionally thought I glimpsed something but not sure. Not split.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Very, very difficult. Aty first i could not splity it. Then, with the
10mmk (586X) I realized, there it was right on a diffraction 
ring. At first it looked like a brighter portioin of the ring then, there
it was! Very very difficult.
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
Inge Skauvik
Star: Lambda Cygni
Date & Time: 18.Aug.02 0100 - 0230
Seeing: 8 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)>. 
Transparency:  Poor/moderate
Location of site: Haavik, Norway
Site classification: Suburban
Temperature: +15º C
Sky darkness: 5.0 <Limiting magnitude> 
Conditions: Wind 2 - 8 m/s from the south
Telescope: 8-inch Portaball with Zambuto mirror
Mount: Dobsonian type
Eyepieces: 16 mm Konig, 7 mm Ortho, 5 mm
Ortho, 2.8x Klee Barlow (all > University Optics)
Magnification: 240x / 480x		 A difficult double requiring good seeing conditions. Under the present conditions it was immediately seen as a double at 240x power, and split at 480x. Main problem with this pair is the brightness of the primary and the magnitude difference.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
Steve Bodin
Star: Lambda Cygni
Date & Time: 22-24 Sep 2002,
9pm to 11pm
Seeing: 4-5 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)>
Transparency: fair, some hi-cirrus
Location: Silverdale WA, USA
47N,123W
Site classification: Suburban
Sky darkness: 4 <Limiting magnitude>
Telescope: Celestron C8
Imaging: PC164C video camera, 6x barlow
Eyepieces: 24mm konig, 18 ortho, 12.5 ortho, 7 ortho
Magnification: 80x,110x,160x, 285x
Magnification (imaging): 333x prime focus, 2000x with 6x barlow
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 

Star: Lambda Cygni
Date & Time: 25 Sep 2002, 10 pm local
Seeing: 8 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)>
Transparency: poor
Location: Silverdale WA, USA
47N,123W
Site classification: Suburban
Sky darkness: 4.5-5 <Limiting magnitude>
Telescope: Celestron C8
Imaging: PC164C video camera, 6x barlow
Magnification (imaging): 333x prime focus, 2000x with 6x barlow
 
 

 Air only a 4 or 5/10 and the image was jumping around. The C component was easy at 80x, but the star was just joined at 285x, very difficult due to the magnitude difference. All the components appeared blue or blue-white. The WDS lists the A component as MCA 63 a very close pair of 4.5 mag stars currently N/S at 0.05 sec separation, anybody got a 100" scope to check this out? The Aa-B component is STT 413 and the orbit solution is 0.895 sec at 005.3 deg PA; however, the current bunch of professional CCD measures are around 9 deg PA at 0.9 sec. Apparently the orbit needs some revision. I measure Aa-B at 0.92 sec at 11 deg PA in poor seeing conditions at the 6x magnification. The AB-C, catalog S 765, measure was 84.23 sec at 105.9 deg PA at prime focus.


 
 

Steady air and images on monitor were pin points vice jumpy smears in poor seeing. Post processing shows why this double can be so much trouble in poor air; the secondary is right smack on the first diffraction ring in an 8 inch scope. Analysis and measurements with this good of an image showed that the orbit prediction is probably good as my measures are long by 0.034 sec and greater by 0.2 deg PA from the orbit solution of 25 Sep. Measurements: separation, 0.929 sec and at 005.5 deg PA.
 
 
Luis Argüelles
Star: Lambda Cygni
Date: 24, July, 2003 , 12:10 -> 2:00 local time
Location of Site: Sena de Luna, Spain
42.55N, 05.57W
Seeing: 9 -> 6 <1-10 Seeing scale (10 best)>
Transparency: 8 -> 5 <1-10 scale (10 best)>
Other conditions: No Moon. 
Temperature:16ºC
Altitude: 1,200 mts (3,940 ft)
Site classification: Rural
Sky darkness: about 5.5
Telescope: Takahashi FS-102
Mount: Vixen GP + Skysensor 2000
Eyepieces: 9mm Nagler, 5mm and 3.8mm Eudiascopics. Celestron Ultima 2x Barlow
Diagonal: Zeiss prism diagonal
Magnifications: 91x, 164x, 215x, 328x
 		 With the 9mm Nagler I observe it as a white star. It lies between a very simple aterism that reminds me a T, with three stars almost forming a line (the upper part of the T) and another one, fainter.

I would say that Lambda Cygni is more difficult to observe than STT 410. I observe that the diffraction circles are not typical from a single star and I would say that colors from the components are not from the same color, in fact one of the components appears hotter than the other one. The dominant color could be bluish and the secondary could be orange. Needless to say, these are the most subtle hues you can imagine, having into account this star is well ahead the resolution capabilities of a 4” refractor.

Anyway, I note that my “observing system” is limited by the GP mount/tripod, because vibrations. I’m starting to thing in  these accesories that suppress vibrations a bit, or, who knows, other mount? :)

Ambience: Lots!. Bats fly happy around one of the illuminated corners of the hotel and while mounting the telescope an enormous dog visits us, seeming interested on the tripod. Fortunately, the sounds of the motors seems to convince him that nothing interesting happens here.