Andrew Cooper
Jul 30, 2023    Waikoloa, HI (map)
28cm f/10 SCT, NexStar 11" GyPSy @ 233x
Seeing: 6 Transparency: 7 Moon: 0%

Pale orange, a wide double with the 8th magnitude star HD 8956 visible 1' east-southeast

Gaia EDR3 data reveals that this pair shares closely matching parallax and proper motion

Captain William Henry Smyth
Dec 28, 1836    No. 6 The Crescent, Bedford, England (map)
150mm f/17.6 refractor by Tully 1827

A star with a distant companion, in the space between the Fishes, in front of the Ram; and nearly half-way from η Ceti towards α Trianguli. A 7, yellow; B 8½, pale blue, being Piazzi's No. 87. It is a coarse object, in a poor field, and was first micrometrically measured by Sir J. South, who numbered it 398, and obtained these results :

    Pos. 98°17'  Dist. 69".75  Ep. 1825.00
       [100°           68".90      2018 WDS]

which are nearly identical with those which I afterwards found. The mean apparent places must have been well settled by Piazzi, since the reductions bring out the following conditions for 1800, viz.: Position 97°, and Distance 67".60.

― 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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