Andrew Cooper
Aug 13, 2023    Waikoloa, HI (map)
28cm f/10 SCT, NexStar 11" GyPSy @ 104x
Seeing: 5 Transparency: 7 Moon: 0%

A fine wide binary, a pale yellow with an 7th magnitude companion visible 50" northwest

Gaia EDR3 data indicates that this pair shares almost identical parallax and the same high proper motion

Andrew Cooper
Nov 15, 2020    Waikoloa, HI (map)
20cm f/6 Newtonian, Cave Astrola @ 76x
Seeing: 6 Transparency: 6 Moon: 0%

White, an 8th magnitude companion visible 49" northwest making for an attractive binary pair.

The Gaia DR2 data shows that both stars share similar parallax and proper motion.

Andrew Cooper
Nov 9, 2020    Waikoloa, HI (map)
20cm f/6 Newtonian, Cave Astrola @ 76x
Seeing: 6 Transparency: 6 Moon: 0%

Pale yellow, a 7th magnitude companion visible 50" northwest

Gaia DR2 data shows this pair to have closely matching parallax and proper motions making this a physical pair

Andrew Cooper
Jul 30, 2020    Waikoloa, HI (map)
20cm f/6 Newtonian, Cave Astrola @ 61x
Seeing: 7 Transparency: 6 Moon: 0%

A pretty binary, pale yellow 5.1 magnitude, a yellow 7.9 magnitude companion 50" northwest

Captain William Henry Smyth
Nov 14, 1838    No. 6 The Crescent, Bedford, England (map)
150mm f/17.6 refractor by Tully 1827

A wide quadruple star. A 6, white; B 7½, light blue; C 8, yellow; and D 10, violet. This fine, though coarse, object is on the monster's tail joint, over η to the nf, and preceding θ by a little more than 2°. Of the components, the larger pair are H 24 V., of which the first register was:

    Pos. 332°36'  Dist. 45".15  Ep. 1783.65

The results obtained from Piazzi's mean places, and those from the micrometrical measures of H. and S., are:

    P.      Pos. 332°18'  Dist. 48".00  Ep. 1800
    H. and S.    332°27'        50".78      1823.79
   [WDS          331            47".10      2018]

whence, compared with my own measures, taken under the finest circumstances, it appears that the position has remained unaltered, —and the difference of distance may be imputed to some oversight in the readings. 37 Ceti has, moreover, a sensible proper motion, and in giving the registered amount of it, I must add, that my meridional reductions countenance its existence; it is according to

    B.... RA +0".11  Dec. +0".33
    A....    +0".06       +0".29
    T....    +0".27       +0".34
   [Gaia DR2 +0".123660   +0".277956]

A line drawn through A B, points to a fine double star [HD 7385] rather low down in the np quadrant, and there are several other stars in the field; a pretty bright one following at a Δ RA=26s. The second set, observed by me, or C D, form a miniature of the first pair, and are H 77 IV. They precede A by about 32 s , and are 15' to the north of it; they were thus, when first registered:

    Pos. 333°24'  Dist. 19".10  Ep. 1782.73

and Sir James South, No. 396, found it :

    Pos. 337°34'  Dist. 19".89  Ep. 1825.30

whence we may conclude, that no sensible change has occurred in the distance in 52 years, but that there may be a slow direct motion in the orbital angle.

― A Cycle of Celestial Objects Vol II, The Bedford Catalogue, William Henry Smyth, 1844

Drawings, descriptions, and CCD photos are copyright Andrew Cooper unless otherwise noted, no usage without permission.

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