Captain William Henry Smyth
Apr 9, 1839    No. 6 The Crescent, Bedford, England (map)
150mm f/17.6 refractor by Tully 1827

A neat triple star, on the animal's cheek, so exactly following 174 P. VI., above described [HD 47977], that the alineation there given will answer for both. A 6, white; B 6½, ruddy; C 7½, bluish. This curious object, of which A and C are Piazzi's 185 and 184 of Hora VI., was discovered to be triple in 1780, and registered 6 ♅ I., and 22 ♅. III. By a comparison of the measures then made, with the subsequent ones of H. and S., Σ. D. and myself, it will be seen that the two close stars have undergone so great a retrograde orbital change as to promise to bring the three stars into a straight line in about half a century, C having remained relatively unaltered with the primary. The other measures are:

             ♅. 1780.68           |            Σ. 1831.10
    Pos. AB 181° 23' Dist. l".5±  |  Pos. AB 153° 42' Dist. 1".52
         AC 302° 33'       9".38  |       AC 304° 12'       8".67
                                  |
          H. and S. 1822.93       |           D. 1833.13
    Pos. AB 158° 39' Dist. 2".59  |  Pos. AB 153° 19' Dist. 1".64
         AC 306° 50'       9".85  |       AC 304° 06'       8".88

       [      WDS 2019/2020      ]
       [ AB  65°           1".90 ]
       [ AC 309°           8".90 ]

From a rough-cast geometrical treatment of these, there results an annus magnus of nearly seven of our centuries.

― 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