Captain William Henry Smyth
Nov 10, 1833    No. 6 The Crescent, Bedford, England (map)
150mm f/17.6 refractor by Tully 1827

A neat double star. A 7, white; B 8, pale grey. This fine object is on the ribbon under the tail of the Northern Fish, and forms Piazzi's Nos. 1ll and 112 of Hora 1; a line from α Arietis through γ, the first and third of the Ram's head, hits upon 100 Piscium, at about 8° south-west of γ. It is, as H. and S. have remarked, a miniature of 77 Piscium, but not so faint in my telescope as to render the measures at all difficult. It was classed by William Herschel V 131, and thus measured:

    Pos. 85°00'  Dist. 15".88  Ep. 1783.59

It was then rigidly examined by H. and S., who made it:

    Pos. 80°25'  Dist. 16".01  Ep. 1821.91
       [ 77°           15".70      2016 WDS]

showing a slow np sf, or retrograde orbital change, which appears to be confirmed by my measurements. This movement is also countenanced by Piazzi's mean apparent places, from which we find that, in 1800, B was at an angle from A = 83°; so that, under all the conditions, there is presumptive evidence of an angular retrocession= -0°.120 per annum. Ulterior measures will be very desirable, since the slow progress indicates so long a period for an active revolution of the satellite, that if the orbit be circular, 3000 years may be estimated.

[The Gaia DR2 dataset shows the two to have matching parallax and proper motion, most likely a binary pair.]

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

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