Andrew Cooper
Nov 26, 2022    Waikoloa, HI (map)
28cm f/10 SCT, NexStar 11" GyPSy @ 127x
Seeing: 6 Transparency: 7 Moon: 0%

A tight binary and a challenging split this morning, after recollimating the 'scope was able to achieve a clean split of two nearly equal magnitude stars separated by about 2" at a PA of 160 , 7' southwest of π6 Ori

Captain William Henry Smyth
Dec 2, 1833    No. 6 The Crescent, Bedford, England (map)
150mm f/17.6 refractor by Tully 1827

A fine double star, just preceding Orion's right knee; and at rather more than a third of the distance from Rigel to Aldebaran, where it is intersected by a line passed from Pollux through Bellatrix.

A 8½, white; B 9. pale grey. This exquisite object is 68 ♅ I.; and having had a retrograde angular motion of 0°.269 per annum assigned to it, was very carefully attended to. My measures, though they exhibit a slight change, do not countenance the amount mentioned; since, supposing ♅.'s to form a standard for its epoch, it would only be about 5° for upwards of half a century. Since this was discussed the great Dorpat Catalogue has arrived, by which a confirmation of other measures is obtained. The whole previous results are:

    ♅. Pos. 174°51'  Dist. 2".0±  Ep. 1782.85
    S.      173°49'        2".56      1825.04
    Σ.      179°54'        2".64      1832.09
   [WDS     162°           2".60      2020
    Smyth's estimate of 5° in 50 years (or 0.1°/yr) turns out to be
    quite accurate when compared to 179° to 162° from 1832 to 2020]

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

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