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ronharper
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 02/14/06
Posts: 1007
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Some rainy season we're having here in northern NM, but it cleared off tonight for the first time in weeks. And there was the Milky Way. That seems like an understatement somehow, I was so happy, but those are the facts. I used my Fujinon 7x50 to get reacquainted with so many fine sights. I guess if I could be buried with only one binocular.... oh what foolishness, nobody has to be buried with only one binocular!
Anyhow, to narrowly avoid a post with utterly no real content, I'd like to share a couple of things, one new to me, the other a great surprise that I could find a place to stand, on a rotting edge of a flowerbed wall, and get a view of from my yard.
32 Camelopardus, very nice balanced double star for 16x70, I could just make this out as two stars with the securely braced 7x50, but not a good split, mostly just "hairlined". I can find not a thing in the popular doubles websites about this star. I just stumbled on it the other night with the 16x when it was so cloudy that it was literally the only place to look. I guess it to be magnitudes 4.5 and 4.5, separated by 16 arcsec. It is 7 degrees from Polaris. Why, just about south, pardner.
NGC1231, open cluster way down near the end of Scorpius's tail for you southerners. I think this is the one they call the "Jewel Box", if not, it ought to be. I about fell over, and not just because the wood was rotting. Take a deep breath before you look at this thing.
Ron
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GlennLeDrew
professor emeritus
Reged: 06/18/08
Posts: 632
Loc: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
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Wouldn't a Sco NGC object be in the 6-thousands range? Methinks you meant NGC6231? 
I know what it's like to go through stellar photon deprivation, too. Glad you got a clear sky at last!
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Home-made 11X50 right angle bino, 8.1 deg. FOV
Modified 26X100 bino, 3.5 deg. FOV
Mediocre minds discuss people. Good minds discuss events. Great minds discuss ideas.
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BobinKy
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 04/27/07
Posts: 953
Loc: Country road
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Ron--
Nice report with the Fujinons.
I had not heard of the double star 32 Cam. This morning I did a little research. I hope you do not mind my posting some references.
Alternate Designations
Harvard Revised Catalog: HR 4893
Henry Draper Catalog: HD 112028
Wilhelm Struve Double Star Catalog: Sigma (Greek letter) 1694
Atlases
Uranometria, 2nd ed., vol. 1, chart 5 (designation 32).
Millennium Star Atlas, vol. II, chart 520 (designation 32).
Sky Atlas 2000.0, chart 2 (designation 32).
Pocket Sky Atlas, chart 31 (no designation)
Cambridge Star Atlas, 3rd ed., chart 1 (designation 32)
Bright Star Atlas, chart 1 (no designation)
DeepMap 600, Double and Multiple Stars table on back (designation 32 Cam).
Observing Guides
The Night Sky Observer's Guide, vol. 1, pp. 65, 66, 74 (designation Sigma 1694).
StarList 2000 (Richard Dibon-Smith), p. 39 (designation Sigma 1694).
Webb Society Deep-Sky Observer's Handbook: Vol. 1 - Double Stars, 2nd ed., p. 117 (designation STF 1694).
Online
Observing report and sketch by Cloudy Nights Sketching Forum regular at The Belt of Venus - Jeremy Perez (designation 32 Camelopardalis (Struve 1694)).
Observing report and sketch at Astronomical League Double Star Observing Log - M. Bracewell (designation 32 Camelopardalis).
85 Double, Multiple, and Stars of Unusual Color - Ray Cash (designation 32 Cam).
. . .
Thank you for your flower bed report which gave me motivation to do some early morning research. I hope you don't mind my posting the above references.
SkyTools 2 (designation HR 4893) lists the best time to observe 32 Cam from my location this evening to be 10:34 p.m., when the double star will be at azimuth 351° 54', altitude 40° 21' (RA 12h 49m, DEC 83° 22') --
Or as you stated so well in your observing report "7° south of Polaris." I will give it try if I have clear skies. All I need to remember is: One star hop south of Polaris in a Fujinon 7x50, two hops in a Fujinon 16x70. 
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Bob
38° Kentucky, USA
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EdZ
Professor EdZ
Reged: 02/15/02
Posts: 12599
Loc: Cumberland, R I , USA42N71.4W
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Nice research, however I can't help but notice the absence of probably the most important resource, the listing from the US Naval Observatory - Washington Double Star Catalogue, the source from which most other books and lists obtain their data. As you will soon see by looking at a variety of resources, if the star has been updated in WDS since some other hard copy resource was printed, the hard copy resource will have older outdated data. (this is especially true of fast changing orbital binaries, in which case the primary resource for most currect data is the WDS - 6th Catalogue of Orbital Binaries). WDS therefore becomes THE most reliable source of current data. However, you need RA and Dec to search. My experiance shows me that I can measure RA/Dec accurately enough from SkyAtlas 2000.0 to always find the stars in WDS.
12492+8325STF1694AB 1820 2003 61 328 328 22.0 21.5 5.29 5.74 A1IIIsh -027+020 -020+015 +84 290 N D 124913.8 +832446.
from this we see the star has a recent observation on record dated 2003. It's components are mag 5.29-5.74 / seperated by 21.5 arcsec, at position angle 328°, the spectral class is A1IIIsh.
the next line in the database shows there is a C component at mag 11.5 located 70+ arcsec away.
For a complete listing of resources for double stars visit the Resources Link post pinned at the top of the Double Star forum.
edz
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Teach a kid something today. The feeling you'll get is one of life's greatest rewards.
member#21
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ronharper
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 02/14/06
Posts: 1007
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Thanks for all the help guys. I'm a bad one for scrambling four digit numbers, 6231 must be it. Way down the tail, just before the start of the curve. And 32 Cam, at 21.5 arcsec, well now I can believe what I saw at 7x--it's quite a bit easier than 100 Her, for example.
Now that the identities are established, I guess it's safe to ask, has anybody else seen these things?
Ron
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Gordon Rayner
professor emeritus
Reged: 03/24/07
Posts: 506
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That part of Scorpius' tail has been one of my favorites.
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BobinKy
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 04/27/07
Posts: 953
Loc: Country road
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Ron--
I just came in from observing 32 Cam with the Fujinon 7x50. And yes, I could see the 32 Cam A and B beginning to separate. However, the separation was more complete in the Fujinon 16x70, where distinct black sky lay between A and B.
When I first went outside to observe 32 Cam I was hand holding the 7x50s. I could not tell if the separation was a true separation or hand shake. So I went inside to get my Bogen 3246 tripod and 501 head. That will be a firm foundation, I thought to myself.
And yes, it was a firm foundation. What might have passed as hand shake was the beginning stages of a double star separation. Gotta love those Fujinon 7x50s. I think they will pick out the shine on a gnat's eyebrow.
Ron, thank you for the observing tip.
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Bob
38° Kentucky, USA
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ronharper
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 02/14/06
Posts: 1007
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Bob,
Thanks for the report. The 7x50 is so sharp that I can see a focus change of 0.2 diopter. This is almost annoying, because my eyes change that much from night to night.
Last night with the 10x50, 32 Cam was cleanly split.
Ron
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BluewaterObserva
Post Laureate
Reged: 05/18/04
Posts: 4763
Loc: Zuni Mtns, NM
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I hope it's dry or not to much rian Thursday and Friday, I have a big cement pour going down on Friday morning.
I'm about 12 miles directly south of Thoreau, NM by the way.
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rookie
sage
Reged: 01/14/06
Posts: 332
Loc: St. Petersburg, FL
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NGC 6231 is truly spectacular. It's just south of CR315, a more sparse open cluster but it adds to the overall shower of stars that fall to the horizon. I look at it every clear night and it's best with my BT80's at 33x (my highest power bino ep's). We've had weeks of rain too. Have not looked at 32 Cam but will when the clouds part. Thanks
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Shirley
Celestron CPC 800XLT~Feather Touch
G0 BT80~45degree; Fujinon 16x70 FMT-SX
Celestron Ultima 9x63 & Regal LX 10x42
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RichD
sage
Reged: 11/08/07
Posts: 213
Loc: Derbyshire, UK
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I always like your observing reports Ron, very entertaining!
I've got to book a holiday down to Portugal or Spain again soon so i can actually see Scorpius again - it's been a long time.
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Clear skies
Rich
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ronharper
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 02/14/06
Posts: 1007
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Shirley, thanks for the report from Florida. A 33x80 ought to bring 6231 (or whatever!) out just about right. Even a 7x50 balancing on one foot isn't bad, I tell you. I guess I could see only about 6 stars, but I have NEVER seen such BRIGHT stars so CLOSE together!
Thank you kindly, Rich. I feel kind of bad raving about such a southern object, which everybody can't see. Here, the circumpolar region is stuck in the treetops.
Ron
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RichD
sage
Reged: 11/08/07
Posts: 213
Loc: Derbyshire, UK
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Oh, don't feel bad Ron, i was out late last night looking at the double cluster which was well up, it's not all bad news living this far north!
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Clear skies
Rich
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