Struve 3050 

Richard Harshaw
Star: Struve 3050 
Location of site: Northern Kansas City, Missouri (USA) 
94d 30m west longitude, 39d 15m north latitude 
980 ft above Mean Sea Level 
Date of observations (UT): UT: 02:15 of Sept. 16, 2000 
Site classification: suburban 
Sky conditions
seeing-- 4/10 up to 8/10, in short spans of time 
transparency-- 8 out of 10 
limiting visual magnitude-- 5.0 mag 
Telescope: Celestron C-8 
Eyepiece: 10mm + Barlow (516x) 
 
 
Position:  2359+3344 
Magnitudes:  5.8. 6.6, 12.9 
Sep/PA's:  AB = 1.8 - ! / 320 + !! ; AC = 81 / 293. 
Year of last measurement:  1991 
Distance (light years):  not known 
Luminosity (in suns):  not known 
Eyepiece and magnification:  10mm + Barlow (516x) 
Colors noted:  Both yW (in agreement with Webb), while C was too dim to say for certain. 
The orbital period is 355 years (Heintz, 1974). 
First measured:  3.8" @ 191. 
1914 (Phillips):  2.1" @ 222. 
I would rate this pair 2 on my 1-5 scale.  Nice challenge, Luis! 
 
 
 
 
Jim Jones
Star: Struve 3050 
Date & Time: 05:08 UTC, Sept 17, 2000 
Seeing: 7 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)> 
Location of site: Lake Oswego, Oregon, USA  
Site classification: Suburban 
Sky darkness: 3.8 <Limiting magnitude>  
Telescope: 8 inch LX50 SCT 
Eye Piece(s): 18 mm Radian, 2x Ultima Barlow 
Magnification: 224x, 336x 
 
Est PA without instrumentation....170d or 350d 
Equal Magnitude.  Equal Color....yellow. 
I used my analog setting circles and took my departure from Alpha And.  On this night of excellent seeing this close pair makes a pretty sight at 336x with the two equal magnitude stars and their diffraction rings.  Took a look at 47x hoping to see the field stars.  Unfortunately, the rising moon really washed out the field. 
 
 
 
William L. Schart
Star: Struve 3050 
Date & Time: 9/18/00 9:00 pm CDT 
Seeing: 8 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)>  
Location of site: Killeen, TX (Lat 31 N, Elev 600 ft)  
Site classification: Suburban  
Sky darkness: 4 <Limiting magnitude>  
Telescope: Orion 6" Dob.  
Magnification: 32x,  98x, 120x, 240x 
  
  
 
Found by moving up from alpha And. Near a Y-shaped asterism and part of a triangle. By far and away the most challenging to split so far. At 98x, I suspected something, at 120x it seemed a bit more definate and with the barlow at 240x, was definate. Too close to make a measurement. 
 

 

 
 
Tom Teague
Star: Struve 3050 
Date & Time: 2000 September 18 (21:15)  
Seeing: 6 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)>. 
Location of site: Chester, England (53 11 08N; 02 51 39W) 
Site classification: Suburban  
Sky darkness: 4 <Limiting magnitude> 
Telescope: 63mm Zeiss Telementor refractor 
Magnification: x140, x210 
 
I could detect no colour difference in this pair.  Both stars appear white to me.  I would normally expect to be able to separate it quite easily with my little Zeiss, but the seeing just wasn't good enough tonight.  I saw it as separated/tangential x140, and figure-of-eight x210.  I estimated the PA at 320 degrees, which turns out to be practically spot-on! 
 
Ambience:  cold, still, autumnal. 
 
 
 
Tim Leese
Star: Struve 3050  
Date & Time: 20-September-2000 (23:20 UT). 
Seeing: 6-7 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)>  
Location of site: Cheshire. UK 
53° 15' N –2º 33' W  
Site classification: Suburban  
Sky darkness: 3.5 <Limiting magnitude>  
Telescope: 200mm f/6  Newtonian scope  mounted over a Vixen GP mount (manual slow motion). 
Any Quoted PA or SEP using micro guide. 
Magnification: X120, X240 
Another close pair of stars of almost equal brightness. This was a challenging split using X120 magnification as the seeing seems to have deteriorated. In moments of steadier air a superb view was obtained, a classic view of a double star in my opinion. 
 
Increasing the magnification to X240 an estimate ( very rough ) of the PA between the two was found to be about 310-320deg or should that be 130-140deg, couldn't tell which was A or B!!. 
 
Steadier air and  a higher magnification would produce, I think, a truly superb view. 
 
 
 
Ilario Melandri
Star: Struve 3050  
Date & Time: 21/09/2000 – 20.20 UT
Seeing: 4 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)>  
Location of site: Italy, Ravenna, San Romualdo, Lat 44 32’N Lon 12 08’E 
Elevation: 0 m 
Site classification: Rural  
Sky darkness: 5 <Limiting magnitude> 
Temperature: +14C
Telescope: 150 mm f/15 achromatic refractor (lens by Romano Zen, Venice). 
Magnification: 140x (Plossl 16mm)
The separation is decreasing, it will be 1.2” in 2020, with PA 5.
Now sep. is 1.7” and distance 95 light years.
 
The distance between the two components corresponds at about 50
Astronomical Units, almost 10 times the distance Sun-Saturn.