Captain William Henry Smyth
Feb 10, 1835    No. 6 The Crescent, Bedford, England (map)
150mm f/17.6 refractor by Tully 1827

A neat double star, under the animal's eye, nearly in mid-distance between Dubhe and Capella, where it is crossed by a line passing from Polaris a little to the westward of Procyon. A 7½ bright white; B 10, blue: the magnitude of the latter star was carefully estimated by my usual method of assuming Piazzi's brightness of A as the standard; and also by referring directly to the companion of Polaris. This delicate object was discovered by Σ., and is No. 946 of the great Dorpat Catalogue. S. measured it in 1825, and from the difficulty he experienced, I expected to find the companion much smaller than I did. It appeared to him of the 12th magnitude, and Σ. from finding it 8.5 in 1827, 10 in 1831, and 8.5 again two years afterwards asks, Num minor variabilis? Their measures are:

S. Pos. 136° 48' Dist. 4".063 Ep. 1825.07
Σ. 133° 28' 4".197 1830.58
[WDS 129° 4".00 2019 ]

Now these results, in the brief period of ten years, afford an indication of evolution, the nature of which must be shown by a train of future observations. But the possibility of the comes being variable, awakens considerations of peculiar interest; it having been surmised, that certain small acolyte stars shine by reflected light, a point which is still to be ascertained. But sidereal science is yet in its infancy.

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

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