Type | Star |
---|---|
Magnitude | 2.8 | Right Ascension | 3h 47' 29.1" (2000) |
Declination | 24° 6' 18" N |
Constellation | Taurus |
Classification | B7III |
Andrew Cooper
Nov 13, 2020 Waikoloa, HI (map)
20cm f/6 Newtonian, Cave Astrola @ 136x
Seeing: 5 Transparency: 6 Moon: 0%
Brilliant blue-white, a trio of 6-8 magnitude stars 2' northwest including 24 Tau, the brightest star in the Pleiades 6' west of the cluster center
Captain William Henry Smyth
Dec 21, 1836 No. 6 The Crescent, Bedford, England (map)
150mm f/17.6 refractor by Tully 1827
Alcyone, a Greenwich star, with a distant companion, in the midst of the Pleiades, called by the Arabians Jauza, the wall-nut, and Neyyir, bright, or lucida of the Pleiades. A 3, greenish yellow; B 7, pale white. Piazzi marked this "duplex," but the -comes could only be 151 P. III.; and a reduction from his mean apparent places, and the micrometrical measures of Sir J. South, afford these results :P. Pos. 288°00' Dist. 122".50 Ep. 1800which, considering that A is chargeable with a small proper motion both in RA and declination, is very consistent with more recent observations.
S. 288°42' 116".40 1824
The other two small stars in the same, or np quadrant, form the "binæ ad boream" mentioned 150 P. III.; and were also measured by S. The proper motions alluded to, are thus valued:P.... RA -0".04 Dec. -0".09This star has usually been considered as the one described under the 32nd of Taurus, in Ptolemy, and there marked ε in brightness. But Mr. Baily says, "I do not think this star can be η Tauri, on account of its magnitude: yet it is singular that the brightest star in the Pleiades should not have been noticed by Ptolemy*."
B.... +0".06 -0".05
[Hipparcos +0".01934 -0".04367]
[This entry of Alcyone goes on to decribe the Pleiades in general, this can be found in the record for M45]
* The occultations of this star, and h Pleiadum, by the dark limb of the Moon, were well observed on the 19th March, 1839, by my excellent friend Lord Chief Justice Tindal; who thus elegantly occupied the evening of a tedious assize-day at Bedford. The observations were made with the 8½-foot equatoreal, charged with an eye-piece magnifying ninety-three times.― 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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