Zeta Cancri (Struve 1196)

Observation Notes:

This was a great triple star. The central diffraction discs of the A and B components appeared to just touch at a position angle of about 68 degrees, which works out to a separation of about .9 arc seconds. These 2 stars were pale yellow in color and seemed so close in magnitude that I couldn't tell which was the primary (which meant a PA of either 68 or 248 degrees until I researched the correct designation of primary). The third star appeared fainter, paler yellow, and at a position angle of 75 degrees. It was separated from the B star by about 4 diffraction ring radii, which works out to a separation from the A star of about 6 arc seconds. Actual values can be seen in the table below.

It appears that the A and B stars have a fairly fast orbital period with a PA of 152.7 degrees in 1991, 110.9° in 1998, and my estimate of 68 degrees in 2006

SubjectZeta Cancri (STF 1196)
ClassificationMultiple Star
Position (J2000)[RA: 08:12:12.7 / Dec: +17:38:52]*
Position Angle*AB=152.7° (1991)
AB=110.9° (1998)
AC=78° (1991)
Separation*AB=.92" (1991)
AB=.7" (1998)
AC=6.17"
Magnitudes*A=5.3; B=6.2; C=5.9
Spectral Types*A=F8V; B=F9V; C=G5V
Date/TimeOCT 22, 2006 - 3:40 AM MST (OCT 22, 2006 - 10:40 UT)
Observing Loc.Cinder Hills Overlook, Sunset Crater National Monument, AZ
InstrumentOrion SVP 6LT Reflector (150 mm dia./1200 mm F/L)
Eyepieces/Mag.10 mm + 2X Barlow (240X)
ConditionsClear, calm
Seeing5/10
TransparencyNELM Mag 6.8+
ReferencesThe Washington Visual Double Star Catalog, 1996.0 (Worley+, 1996), Tycho Double Star Catalogue (TDSC) (Fabricius+ 2002), Double stars measurements (Alzner 1998), and Spectrophotometric Catalogue of Stars (Kharitonov+, 1988) via VizieR

*Based on published data.

The Cerulean Arc

My weblog for
everything else non-astronomy

Pin at will!


(Thanks for maintaining
return links.)

About this Entry

This page contains a single entry by Jeremy Perez published on November 28, 2006 11:15 PM.

Iota Cancri (Struve 1268) was the previous entry in this blog.

Epsilon Hydrae (Struve 1273) is the next entry in this blog.

Find recent content on the main index or look in the archives to find all content.

Categories

Monthly Archives

Powered by Movable Type 5.2.3