Sketch Refinement
Above is the cleaned up sketch that was submitted to Sky and Telescope for the September 2006 issue.
September 12, 2005 Observation
Observation Notes:
These two were so very close and perfectly similar, it was a very cool double. The PA is either 360° or 175°, depending on which star is the primary. At first, the color for both appeared to be white, but after further examination, I believe the north star is a subtle yellow. They each sat on each other’s first diffraction ring, leading me to believe the separation is approximately 1.3° (the actual value is 1.8°). The listed PA of 266° is vastly different than the 360/175° I estimated.
The sketch is deceptive. To indicate brightness, I drew the star circles bold. This made me have to push the stars apart to keep them separated. So they were actually tighter and closer in the 240X FOV than they appear in the sketch.
| Subject | Double/Multiple Star: Zeta Aquarii (STF 2909) |
| Classification | Double Star |
| Position | Aquarius [RA: 22:28:48 / Dec: +00:01]* |
| Separation* | 1.8″ |
| Magnitudes* | 4.3, 4.5 |
| Position Angle* | 266° |
| Date/Time | 09/12/05 – 11:45 PM |
| Observing Loc. | Flagstaff, AZ – Home |
| Instrument | Orion SVP 6LT Reflector (150 mm dia./1200 mm F/L) |
| Eyepieces/Mag. | 10 mm + 2X Barlow (240X) |
| Conditions | Clear, breezy, 55°F |
| Seeing | 5/10 |
| Transparency | NELM Mag 4.8 |
*Based on published data.