Struve 853 

Craig M. Carver
Star: Struve 853 
Date & Time:  11/24/98  0650 UT 
Seeing:  6-7 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)> 
Location of site: Madison, WI (Lat 43.07, Long 89.38, Elev. 500 ft) 
Site classification: Suburban 
Sky darkness: 4.8-5.0  <Limiting magnitude> 
Telescope: 6" Maksutov 
Magnification: 95x, 190x 		 A wide pair of yellow stars of about equal magnitude (approx. 8.0). 

 
Chuck Layton
Star: Struve 853 
Date of Observation:  Jan. 11, 1999 
Time of Observation:  0700 UT 
Seeing (1 - 10, 10 best):  5 
Site classification: Suburban 
Limiting Mag. (naked eye):  4.8 
Instrument Used:  20cm f/6 Eq. Newtonian 
Magnifications Used:  122X 		 Observed Colorations of Components:  Primary - blueish white, secondary - white. 
Other comments:  Wide, easy pair.  The primary appears slightly brighter than the comes.  Pretty field with many other pairs of dimmer stars.  May be an optical pair.

 
Dave Mitsky
Star: Struve 853 
Date & Time:  1/30/99  06:30 UT 
Seeing:  4 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)>
Transparency: ~ 6 
Location of site: ASH Naylor Observatory (http://www.msd.org/obs.htm) 
near Lewisberry, PA 
Site classification: Rural 
Sky darkness: ~ 5.0  <Limiting magnitude> 
Telescope: 17" f/15 classical Cassegrain 
Magnification: 118x, 202x		 Only an optical double but a nice one at that, Struve 853 consists of an evenly matched and widely separated (36.2") pair of 8th magnitude stars with a slight color difference.

 
Ilario Melandri
Star: Struve 853 
Date & Time: 13/Dec/1999 – 20.24 UTC 
Seeing: 3 <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: 5.5  <Limiting magnitude>
Temperature: +2C 
Telescope: 150 mm f/15 achromatic refractor 
Magnification: 140 x (eyepiece Plossl Clavé 16 mm)

 

 
Randall Heckman
Star: Struve 853 
Date & Time: 12/31/99 at 2:00 UT 
Seeing: 4 
Location of Site: Heckman Observatory 
40 37' 10" N and 99 03' 50" W 
Site Classification:  Rural 
Sky Darkness (Limiting Magnitude):  5 
Telescope:  8" Orion Dob with 6" aperture mask 
Magnification: 46x 		 Separation (Clear or Toughing): Clear 
Magnitude Comment: Equal magnitudes 
Color Comment: White 
General Comment: This double was difficult to find.  Nearby asterisms plotted in Uranometria were a big help. 
 
 
 
 

 

 
Richard Harshaw
Star: Struve 853 
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): 0310 on 12/31/99 
Site classification: suburban 
Sky conditions: 
seeing-- 8 out of 10 
transparency-- 8 out of 10 
limiting visual magnitude-- 5 
Temperature: 43 F 
Telescope: Celestron C-8 
Eyepiece: Micro-Guide (160x) 

 

 I made five sets of measurements with the Micro-Guide illuminated reticule eyepiece and got an average of 37" at PA 3. (If you want the measurements themselves, reply to this posting.) It looks to me like this pair has widened since 1991, and would warrant close scrutiny by observers over the next few years to see if this is indeed the case. 

For users of a Micro-Guide (or similar illuminated reticule eyepiece), these pairs with PA's near 0 degrees are especially troublesome to measure! 

I noted colors of Yellow and Yellowish-White. The field here is awesome! 
Differences in distance per Hipparcos; may be an optical pair. 

Measurements from 1991: 
8.4m (G5) primary 
9.0m (G5) companion, 33" at PA 1 
 

 
Philippe de Jocas 
Star: Struve 853   
Date & Time: January 22, 1h00-7h300 UT 
Seeing: 3-4 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)>.
Location of site: Ottawa/Hull, Canada
Site classification: Suburban 
Sky darkness: 4.5 <Limiting magnitude>
Temperature: -25C 
Telescope: 6" f5 newtonian
Magnification: 40x 		 Struve 853 Was a cinch, and came with a fainter. mirror image of itself about 35' NNE, well seen at 40x.

 
Jim Brownfield
Star: Struve 853 
Date & Time: 26/01/2000, 6:30 p.m.- 11:30 p.m. EST 
Seeing: 3 – 5 (improving) <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)>.
Location of site: Huntsburg, Ohio, USA
Site classification: Suburban 
Sky darkness: 6 mag., could see ST 855, going to 5th mag. star Rho  <Limiting magnitude>
Other observing conditions:  83% humidity, 16 degrees F. with 12" snow on ground going to 84% humidity, 4 degrees F.
Telescope: 13.1"/F4.5 Dobsonian, with 5" aperture mask for the brighter pairs
Magnification: 47x

Star: Struve 853   
Date & Time: 1/29/00, 3:30 UT - 10:00 UT 
Seeing: ) 3 improving to 4 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)>.
Location of site: Huntsburg, Ohio, USA
Site classification: Suburban 
Sky darkness: 4.5 (limiting magnitude)
Other observing conditions: 14 degrees F dropping to 6 degrees F, 92% humidity
Telescope: Meade 80mm/ f11
Magnification: 28x 

 split at 47x, star hopped across open cluster 2194, nice compactness better then some globular clusters 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

split at 28x 
 

 
Jordi Viver
Star: Struve 853 
Date & Time: 27/01/2000, 24:00 UT 
Seeing: 5 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)> 
Location of Site: Vic (Spain) 41º55’N, 2º19’E 
Elev. 570m 
Site Classification: Suburban 
Sky darkness: 3 <Limiting magnitude> 
Temperature: 0ºC 
Telescope: 200mm self-made Newton, Dobsonian 
Magnification: 48x 		 Separation: I separe two similar components. 
Catalog data: Guide 7.0: vM 8.40, 8.90 
D36.8”, PA6.5º. 
WDS: vM 8.3, 8.8, D35”, PA4º. 
General coments: Dificult localization by hopping from 74 Ori. 
 
 
 
 

 

 
John M. Ryan
Star: Struve 853 
Date of Observation: 30/01/00 22:25UT 
Location of Observation: Ciudad Rodrigo, Salamanca, Spain 
40º 36' N, 6º 32'W, Elev. 800 Meters 
Seeing: 7 to 8. Best so far this new year based on the Luis Arguelles method (0 - 10, 10 best)  
Site classification: Urban
Limiting Mag. (naked eye): 5
Instrument: Meade 8"SCT  
Magnification: 80x, 167x		 Separation (Clear or Touching):Clear Split 
Magnitude Comment:Both components about mag 8 in accordance with the data. 
Color Comment:Both components tend to be white 
General Comment:After the beauty of Struve 848 this was a normal wide easy split of almost equal components. 

 
Jay Zimmerman
Star: Struve 853 
Date & Time: 02/09/2000, 0300 
Seeing: 6 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)> 
Location of Site:  Carbondale, IL, USA 
Site Classification: Suburban/near rural 
Temperature: 28°F (-2.22°C) 
Sky darkness: 5.1  <Limiting magnitude> 
Telescope: 97mm, f7 apo 
Magnification: 13.3x 
 		 Clean split at 13.3x, but the stars were a bit hard to see (too darned small). This is not quite a headlight double but almost. 
PA estimated = 0° (actual = 1°). Colors: A = white; B seemed to be pale blue. 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
William L. Schart
Star: Struve 853 
Date & Time: 2/13/00 9:38 pm CST
Seeing: 6 <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, 48x, 72x, 98x		  A pair of 8th mag stars easily split even with 32x, both appeared blue. Separation 32”, estimation of PA is that these stars lie along the 0-180 degree line. 

Redshift software shows several other pairs in this neighborhood, so I did some sweeping and found a nice, wide pair of blue and yellow stars, about mag 7. 

 

 
Orlon Petterson
Star: Struve 853 
Date & Time: 22 February, 2000, 10:00-10:45 UTC
Seeing: 8-9 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)> 
Location of site: Christchurch, New Zealand 43 deg S
Site classification: Suburban 
Sky darkness: 5 Mag, with a gibbous moon to the east <Limiting magnitude> 
Telescope: C102 f/10 refractor  
Magnification: 27x, 50x		 Easily seen at low power with the secondary to the north, though possibly slightly east of north  Both appear white. 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
G.E.O.D.A Group
Star: Struve 853
Date & Time: 11-III-2000, 18.30-21.30 UT
Seeing: 7 <1-10 Seeing Scale (10 best)> 
Location of Site: Manises, Valencia, Spain. GPS coordinates: 39º 29' 36" N, 00º 27' 56" W.
Site Classification: Urban-Suburban
Sky darkness: 3 <Limiting magnitude> 
Telescope: Meade 10" LX-200 SCT
Magnification: 200x		 Published measures are the mean of two observations made from two different observers.

d = 43.8; PA = 7