Andrew Cooper
Oct 23, 2020    Waikoloa, HI (map)
20cm f/6 Newtonian, Cave Astrola @ 76x
Seeing: 7 Transparency: 6 Moon: 25%

Pale orange, a 12th magnitude 12" companion not visible

Captain William Henry Smyth
Dec 10, 1837    No. 6 The Crescent, Bedford, England (map)
150mm f/17.6 refractor by Tully 1827

A wide but delicate double star. A 6, pale white; B 12, light blue. This object is followed, a little north of the parallel Δ RA = 25s, by a neat star of the 8th magnitude. As B vanishes under illumination its position is taken by the spherical rock-crystal micrometer, and the distance estimated.

This star is close under the Whale's paw, but in the precincts given to Fornax Chemica by La Caille. Bode, in altering the type of this asterism, says, "J'ai tracé au lieu de ces instrumens, la délinéation d'une des expériences de l'immortel Lavoisier." A line from α Ceti through η Eridani, carried a little more than as far again to the south, strikes γ Fornacis.

― 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.

A complete list of credits and sources can be found on the about page