Andrew Cooper
Nov 27, 2023    Waikoloa, HI (map)
28cm f/10 SCT, NexStar 11" GyPSy @ 127x
Seeing: 6 Transparency: 6 Moon: 0%

Brilliant white, a white 7th magnitude companion 1' southwest makes an attractive double

Gaia EDR3 data shows the pair to be a physical associated pair with comparable parallax and proper motion

Captain William Henry Smyth
Dec 17, 1831    No. 6 The Crescent, Bedford, England (map)
150mm f/17.6 refractor by Tully 1827

A star with a companion, in a barren field, at the root of the Bull's left horn; and about 6° north of Aldebaran, on a line leading from that star to Capella. A 5, bluish white, and B 8, lilac. This object is 7 ♅ VI., discovered in October, 1779; and registered with a "pretty accurate" distance of 61"25''', but no angle of position appears to have been taken. Piazzi then observed the mean places, from which we obtain the following data to compare with the micrometrical measures of Sir James South, viz.:

    P. Pos. 210°00'  Dist. 58".60  Ep. 1800.00
    S.      211°32'        62".82      1824.00
   [WDS     214°           62".50      2017   ]

On the whole, weighing the different methods and instruments employed, the fixity of these stars may be held to be here established.

― 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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