With this problem disposed of, more or less, I proceeded to observe our friendly pole star. Although I look at this almost every time I observe in the process of setting up, it has been quite some time since I have observed it, and never with the C8.  (This is one of the reasons why I nominated it.) This event went off at 7:44 pm CST. This pair was easy to split, even at low power. This judge found the primary to be a brilliant yellowish white, while the fainter companion was blue. I got the separation at 16.9", but did not attempt a measurement of the PA, which I felt would be unreliable this close to the pole. I was surprised at the number of faint, but still readily visible stars in the FOV. 

The secondary points to a nice right triangle of faint stars, perhaps about 
mag 9.
 
 
 

William is a tried and tested observer who started life as a  plane spotter and Texas Ranger and finally decided a better cover would be a simple High School Mathematics Teacher. He has fooled nobody. In recent years, and supported by a very sympathetic wife, who copes well with a life of  near penury,  he has started a fine collection of modern instrumentation and plies the skies and records his 
findings in special code in between reports to the C.I.A.

Comments: With the telescope adjusted to the correct altitude and assistanced by suitable lighting I spotted this fine double. The snails were closely entertwined and glistening in the light. The primary looked plump and of a clear Speckled Brown appearance while its companion was slightly brighter. The pair refused to separate so with a clear demonstration of the survival of the fittest I lofted them over the garden fence into an empty paddock, packed up my gear and retired to the welcoming atmosphere of the Apre-ski. 

Measures: 17.6 sec, PA 233 deg from last August

As the primary is pretty bright, I decided to try it with my prismatic Zeiss pocket spectroscope.  Unfortunately, the seeing was just too bad for visual spectroscopy.  Using the same equipment in good seeing in the past, I have sighted many dark features in the spectrum of this star, but on this occasion all I could manage was a fleeting suspicion of a few absorption lines, mainly in the green region.
 

Star: Alpha Ursa Minoris (Polaris)
Date & Time: February 17 - 2002, 22.30 
Seeing: 5 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)>
Location of site: Annen, The Netherlands, 53º N, 6º E
Site classification: Village-backyard
Sky darkness: 4 <Limiting magnitude>
Temperature: 1° C 
Conditions: Clouds with short clearings 
Telescope: Intes MK-67, 6" f/12 Maksutov 
Eyepieces: 40mm TV plossl, 20mm TV plossl 
Magnification: 45x, 90x

Anyway, I announced Polaris as WINNER and accordingly raised its rating to 1!

Of course prior observations were made:
Several observations with the Swarovski show that is was an easy double for this scope. For the LX10 Polaris was one of my First Light objects and that occasion I noted that it was extremely easy to split. With the CG11 and the GS80 I did some twilight observations, probably related to aligning the mount. The ratings of the pair on those occasions was never more than a mediocre 3. (Maybe because my earlier Swarovski-observations were made long before the time I started using the RH-rating...)

Polaris is a beautiful bright yellow star. At 60x the secondary is best seen as a sharp little pinpoint, nicely outside the glare of the primary. Zooming down showed me that (roughly) 40x was the limit for separating the pair.

Using 20x shows that the surrounding field is not as empty as one might expect. There is a circlet of magn. 8/9 stars to one side and a small string of stars to the other side of Polaris. Together they give the impression of a free floating balloon with the bright Polaris as the knot in the balloon and the rope. The only thing that is missing is the Olympic logo printed on the balloon...
 
 
 

I am always reluctant to move a scope on a GEM to the region around Polaris, it is very difficult to aim a scope because the movements along the RA-axis result in almost nothing... But with the handy little MK-67 that is much easier then with the bulky CG11.
Polaris was viewed in mid twilight, the sky still blue but most bright stars were already visible for the unaided eye. At 45x the secondary showed up nicely, but at 90x the image was much better. While aiming for Polaris I was amazed to see that the yellow color of this star was very striking in the 10x50 finder. The yellow color was more striking in the finder then in the scope itself. 
 
Because of the nice view @ 90x Polaris deserves a rating 2 when viewed with this scope. 

Ambience: Only a short time of observing. The clouds came in (to stay) at 21.00. This time I had the CG11 and the MK-67 standing next to eachother for the first time (for observing). My findings of Saturday about compairing these scopes were confirmed. The seeing was no more than 5 and the Intes showed the same details on Jupiter as the Celestron. Once the eye was accustomed to the very bright image in the C11 or, on the other hand, to the dimmer image in the MK-67, the details looked very much the same.
 
When comparing doubles the greater capabilities of the C11 came out clearly again, see STF948 and Kappa Lep below.
 

Tonight, Polaris bobbled about like a beach ball in a force 10 gale. Even so, I could easily see the companion using X67 magnification. The primary star appeared a pale yellow colour with a bluish purple attendant. Using an apodising screen, constructed by myself, I received an absolutely stunning view. Polaris was seen in the centre of a spoke wheel effect of crudely diffracted star light. The view 
was very much steadier using this screen but the faint companion was much harder to see.

A brilliant view though. This would make a good photo, I think. Must add a digital camera to my long list essential astro stuff.
 
 
  
     
 
I returned to this star, this time with my 80mm f/5, to determine if the companion could be seen, with ease. Using my 5mm Lanthanum  with this scope gives X80 magnification. Polaris appeared as a golden yellow colour and, even in the unsteady air, I could easily see a deep blue companion. The protection cover for this scope has a 40mm hole in the end so can be used as a stop. I placed this over the OG and the companion promptly disappeared from view. Patience was a key here.  As I sat and waited, the companion began to appear out of the darkness. I could hold the tiny mote using averted vision for odd seconds at a time during the moments of steady seeing.  I wouldn't have noticed the companion using 40mm had I not known where to look though. Removing the stop revealed the companion straight away. I found this good practice for trying to locate faint companions to the more difficult doubles and will repeat this exercise in the future, sky permitting. Great contender William, good choice.
   
Ambience: Luckily, I have a large area to place my portable telescope in the best position required for my intended targets. I do have a tree line to negotiate though so objects lying low in the southern sky are difficult to locate sometimes.  My darkest sky is located towards the south west and west as this overlooks open farmland. Tonight, due to the chilling wind, I mounted this little telescope between an outbuilding and a large leylandi hedge, Monoceros could be seen clearly, in my darkest area of sky, although the light from the Moon washed out some of the fainter stars.  The crocuses and snowdrops are in flower and an owl patrols the area for tasty morsels.  I could just see Polaris over the top of the hedge so this was my first target before a couple more doubles in Monoceros.