Andrew Cooper
Oct 23, 2022    Waikoloa, HI (map)
28cm f/10 SCT, NexStar 11" GyPSy @ 127x
Seeing: 6 Transparency: 7 Moon: 0%

Pale orange with a 10th magnitude companion 25" northwest

Gaia EDR3 data shows matching parallax and proper motion in the pair

Captain William Henry Smyth
Sep 17, 1834    No. 6 The Crescent, Bedford, England (map)
150mm f/17.6 refractor by Tully 1827

A delicate double star, in the space between Orion's right heel and left knee; where it may be found by drawing a line from the third star in Orion's belt, over the sword cluster, and carrying it nearly as far again beyond. A 7½ pale white; and B 10, blue. This pretty object was Σ.'s Fourth Class, No. 722, but is not placed among his measured stars; being branded in tbe great Catalogue with "rej" It is in a barren but brightish field, in which an occasional glow seems to verify the " diffused nebulosity" which H.'s powerful light-grasping 20-foot reflector saw, No. 2268 of his Sweeps.

[Gaia DR2 data shows that this pair does indeed share comparable parallax and proper motions]

― 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