Captain William Henry Smyth
Nov 21, 1830    No. 6 The Crescent, Bedford, England (map)
150mm f/17.6 refractor by Tully 1827

A fine double star, on the Hero's head, and nearly in mid-distance of a line projected from α Persei, and carried between δ and ε Cassiopeæ. A 5, orange; B 8½, smalt blue; the colours in clear contrast. This is a very neat object, of which the pair was measured for comparison with former results, otherwise there are three small stars which offer closer secondaries. There are distinctly nine stars in the group, of which the principal, as Professor Barlow has remarked, having three small stars nearly in a line on one side, and one on the other, forms a miniature representation of Jupiter and his satellites. The leader of this family precedes A a little below the parallel, or north of it, in the inverted field, with a Δ RA = 15s. When A and B were first classed as 4 ♅ IV., the measures were:

    Pos. 290°05'  Dist. 26".00  Ep. 1779.72

H. and S., No. 34, then found it

    Pos. 299°53'  Dist. 28".96  Ep. 1821.94
   [WDS  301°           28".70      2018   ]

whence an angular change of +0.25 per annum was suspected; but which is not confirmed by my results.

This star is 179 P. II., or 9 Hevelius; and was under no small confusion as to its identity in the British Catalogue, until Mr. Baily's correctives duly installed it 15 Persei η, No. 348. And he adds: "In the British Catalogue it is stated to be of the 6th magnitude: but in Halley's edition it is called the 4th. On consulting the original entry in the MS. book, I find it is there also noted as the 4th; which I have here adopted." It is certainly bright for Piazzi's rating, but I see no reason for altering it, since it is less lustrous than θ or γ Persei, its neighbours of the 4th magnitude.

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

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