Double Star 77 Piscium Lunar Occultation

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The Wave Catcher United States of America
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Double Star 77 Piscium Lunar Occultation

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Post by The Wave Catcher »


2023-01-26 Observation Log
19:30-20:53 CST

I got home from work, ate supper, and came outside with my AT80ED (80 mm, f/7, ED refractor) telescope to check out the waxing 33.2% crescent Moon, Jupiter, and maybe a few other targets before bed. The skies were clear, calm, and 47 F, skies about the usual Bortle 8.

I found the Moon with my Stellarvue 15 mm (37.3x) 82 degrees eyepiece and quickly noticed that I had perfect timing to witness a near dead center, double star occultation! The dark limb of the Moon was very close to the double star 77 Piscium. The main star was slightly brighter and closer the Moon. I put in my new Stellarvue 4 mm (140x) 82 degree eyepiece to enjoy the show. The main star blinked out first at 01:36:00 UTC. The fainter companion star was the next to blink out at 01:37:59 UTC. I went on to make other observations as I waited for them to come out the other side.

Before enjoying the sites on the Moon, I turned to Jupiter before it went behind my trees. I still had the new 4 mm eyepiece in. The four Galilean moons were all on my east side of Jupiter. The two main belts were visible in addition to some northern cloud bands. I could faintly see some festoons on the belts. Seeing was about 3/5. It may have been better, but my telescope was still cooling off and my neighbors had their fireplace going (smelled like old boots burning). I experimented with various eyepieces to compare views. I tried my tiny 6 mm (93.3x) Plössl, then added the 2X Barlow (187x) , my 5 mm (112x), and then my 12 mm with the 3x Barlow (140x). The clarity of Jupiter was similar across the eyepieces, though the more glass in the optical path, the slightly fainter Jupiter was, as expected. The field of view was obviously different between designs and with the new high power 4 mm eyepiece, the Jovian system stayed in view a long time, even though my mount has no tracking.

I’m went back to the Moon to check out the details with my new eyepiece. Though relatively high power (140x), I could move my eye all around and see all of the Moon. The image seemed to move very slowly through my wide field view using my alt/az mount. I also notice that details remained sharp across the entire 82 degree field of view all the way to the edge. The details along the terminator were fantastic. Some of the cool views were the craters Posidonius, Theophilus, and the mountains at the edge of the Sea of Serenity. The weird shaped crater Torricelli really stood out too.

I continued observing the Moon with my Astro-Tech Paradigm 12 mm (46.7x) eyepiece, hoping to catch the 77 Piscium pair come back out from behind the Moon. I watched the main star come out about 02:47:00 UTC and the companion star about 02:48:59 UTC. I slightly estimated these times because of the Moon‘s brightness on the exit side, I could not see them until a fraction of a minute past their exit.

I decided to go inside for the evening after watching the complete occultation phase of the 77 Piscium pair.
Steve Yates

Astro-Tech AT102ED, 102 mm, F/7, ED Achromatic Refractor
Astro-Tech AT80ED, 80 mm, F/7, ED Achromatic Refractor
Bresser AR102s, 102 mm, f/4.5, Achromatic Refractor

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Bigzmey United States of America
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Re: Double Star 77 Piscium Lunar Occultation

#2

Post by Bigzmey »


Nice session and enjoyable report Steve!
Scopes: Stellarvue: SV102ED; Celestron: 9.25" EdgeHD, 8" SCT, 150ST, Onyx 80ED; iOptron: Hankmeister 6" Mak; SW: 7" Mak; Meade: 80ST.
Mounts: SW: SkyTee2, AzGTi; iOptron: AZMP; ES: Twilight I; Bresser: EXOS2; UA: MicroStar.
Binos: APM: 100-90 APO; Canon: IS 15x50; Orion: Binoviewer, LG II 15x70, WV 10x50, Nikon: AE 16x50, 10x50, 8x40.
EPs: Pentax: XWs & XFs; TeleVue: Delites, Panoptic & Plossls; ES: 68, 62; Vixen: SLVs; Baader: BCOs, Aspherics, Mark IV.
Diagonals: Baader: BBHS mirror, Zeiss Spec T2 prism, Clicklock dielectric; TeleVue: Evebrite dielectric; AltairAstro: 2" prism.
Filters: Lumicon: DeepSky, UHC, OIII, H-beta; Baader: Moon & SkyGlow, Contrast Booster, UHC-S, 6-color set; Astronomik: UHC.

Observing: DSOs: 3106 (Completed: Messier, Herschel 1, 2, 3. In progress: H2,500: 2180, S110: 77). Doubles: 2382, Comets: 34, Asteroids: 255
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Re: Double Star 77 Piscium Lunar Occultation

#3

Post by helicon »


Terrific report on the occultation Steve and congrats on winning the VROD for the day. Quite a catch, along with Jupiter. Glad that you could try out the new 4mm eyepiece with the 80mm frac.
-Michael
Refractors: ES AR152 f/6.5 Achromat on Twilight II, Celestron 102mm XLT f/9.8 on Celestron Heavy Duty Alt Az mount, KOWA 90mm spotting scope
Binoculars: Celestron SkyMaster 15x70, Bushnell 10x50
Eyepieces: Various, GSO Superview, 9mm Plossl, Celestron 25mm Plossl
Camera: ZWO ASI 120
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Re: Double Star 77 Piscium Lunar Occultation

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Post by Makuser »


Hi Steve. A nice observing report using your AT80ED refractor telescope. I imaging that was some view of the waxing crescent moon's occultation of the double star 77 Piscium. And the time spent with Jupiter was very rewarding too with belting, festoons, and the Galilean moons all to one side. Thanks for sharing this well written report with us Steve and congratulations on receiving the TSS VROD Award today.
Marshall
Sky-Watcher 90mm f/13.8 Maksutov-Cassegrain on motorized Multimount
Orion Astroview 120ST f/5 Refractor on EQ3 mount
Celestron Comet Catcher 140mm f/3.64 Schmidt-Newtonian on alt-az mount
Celestron Omni XLT150R f/5 Refractor on CG4 mount with dual axis drives.
Orion 180mm f/15 Maksutov-Cassegrain on CG5-GT Goto mount.
Orion XT12i 12" f/4.9 Dobsonian Intelliscope.
Kamakura 7x35 Binoculars and Celestron SkyMaster 15x70 Binoculars. ZWO ASI 120MC camera.
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Re: Double Star 77 Piscium Lunar Occultation

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Post by jrkirkham »


Thank you for the report.
Rob
Telescopes: 50mm refractor, ED80 triplet, 90mm makcass, 10" dob, 8"SCT, 11"SCT
Mounts: Celestron CGX, Orion Sirius + several camera tripods
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AL Projects Completed: Lunar #645, Outreach #0280, Universe Sampler #93-T, Binocular Messier #871, Messier #2521, Messier Honorary #2521, Constellation Hunter Northern Skies #112, Planetary Transit Venus #1, Galileo #26, Outreach Stellar 0280, Meteor Regular #157, Solar System Telescopic #209-I, Observer Award #1
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Re: Double Star 77 Piscium Lunar Occultation

#6

Post by Ylem »


Great report Steve 👍

Congratulations on the well deserved VROD!
Clear Skies,
-Jeff :telescopewink:


Member; ASTRA-NJ



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Re: Double Star 77 Piscium Lunar Occultation

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Post by Unitron48 »


Great read of a very successful session! Congrats on your VROD recognition.

Dave
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Re: Double Star 77 Piscium Lunar Occultation

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Post by John Baars »


Congratulations on the VROD!
Very nice to witness the occultation and re-appearance of the double Piscium starsystem.
Thanks for your lovely report!
Refractors in frequency of use : *SW Evostar 120ED F/7.5 (all round ), * Vixen 102ED F/9 (vintage), both on Vixen GPDX.
GrabnGo on Alt/AZ : *SW Startravel 102 F/5 refractor( widefield, Sun, push-to), *OMC140 Maksutov F/14.3 ( planets).
Most used Eyepieces: *Panoptic 24, *Morpheus 14, *Leica ASPH zoom, *Zeiss barlow, *Pentax XO5.
Commonly used bino's : *Jena 10X50 , * Canon 10X30 IS, *Swarovski Habicht 7X42, * Celestron 15X70, *Kasai 2.3X40
Rijswijk Public Observatory: * Astro-Physics Starfire 130 f/8, * 6 inch Newton, * C9.25, * Meade 14 inch LX600 ACF, *Lunt.
Amateur astronomer since 1970.
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Re: Double Star 77 Piscium Lunar Occultation

#9

Post by The Wave Catcher »


Thank you all for the VROD!
Steve Yates

Astro-Tech AT102ED, 102 mm, F/7, ED Achromatic Refractor
Astro-Tech AT80ED, 80 mm, F/7, ED Achromatic Refractor
Bresser AR102s, 102 mm, f/4.5, Achromatic Refractor

Explore Scientific Twilight I Alt/Az Mount
Bresser Nano Alt/Az Mount
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