Tau-1 Hydrae (HJ 1167)

Observation Notes:

This double star presented an interesting color contrast compared to the actual spectra. The primary appeared pale yellow, with a fainter blue-gray companion. The primary is F6V, which is believable, but according to the 13th General Catalogue of MK Spectral Classification (Buscombe 1998), the secondary is a K0V star, which should appear yellow-orange if anything. Eric Graff noted White and Yellowish for the pair while using a 150 mm f/6 newtonian at 120X. Alain Gerard recorded pale yellow and yellow-orange. However, as with my observation, Jeff Burton noted pale yellow and blue while using a 203 mm SCT at 111X.

I estimated PA at 10 degrees and separation appeared to be 1/7 of the field of view, or about 100 arcseconds. The actual values are 4.1 degrees and 65.7 arcseconds.