Struve 1627 -- Double Star in Virgo
Salvaging the Night
I had fully intended on hunting down and drawing a couple of galaxies this morning before
sunrise. All the weather indicators pointed towards cloudless skies over my house. But it
was not to be. When I got up the sky was mostly clear, but by the time the telescope had
been setup and ready to use the sky had become covered in a milky-film from a thin cloud
covering, unfit for viewing deep sky objects. I star hoped to the galaxy M61, but it was a
degraded mess in the eyepiece and not worth drawing. I waited for the clouds to move on,
but after an hour or so, gave up and decided to head back to bed.
To salvage the morning’s observing session, I visited Struve 1627 before turning in. This
bright and easy to find double star is about three-degrees south of the star Zaniah (Eta
Virginis). Even under less than an ideal sky, the pair was a welcome sight. Both stars
appear to be a light-yellow. I made a quick drawing (it does not take long to draw less than
a dozen stars) before dismantling the telescope. The galaxies will wait for another night.
sunrise. All the weather indicators pointed towards cloudless skies over my house. But it
was not to be. When I got up the sky was mostly clear, but by the time the telescope had
been setup and ready to use the sky had become covered in a milky-film from a thin cloud
covering, unfit for viewing deep sky objects. I star hoped to the galaxy M61, but it was a
degraded mess in the eyepiece and not worth drawing. I waited for the clouds to move on,
but after an hour or so, gave up and decided to head back to bed.
To salvage the morning’s observing session, I visited Struve 1627 before turning in. This
bright and easy to find double star is about three-degrees south of the star Zaniah (Eta
Virginis). Even under less than an ideal sky, the pair was a welcome sight. Both stars
appear to be a light-yellow. I made a quick drawing (it does not take long to draw less than
a dozen stars) before dismantling the telescope. The galaxies will wait for another night.
