TX and AH Draconis

Over a week ago on the 7th August we had some clear skies and with the moon only two days past first quarter I thought I could have a go at getting an estimate of the brightness of TX and AH Dra. The moon was low in the sky in the south west at around 11pm (BST) when I went out to observe these stars. I began with TX as it is easy to find being near Eta Dra. I could, at 22:14 UT, see star P on BAA chart 106.03 which meant that my limiting magnitude with my 7x50 binoculars was fainter than 8.4. At 22:21 UT I found that TX was marginally brighter than N (=7.7 mag.) but fainter than K (=7.0 mag.). So my estimate was K(3)V(1)N which made TX magnitude 7.5 (to one decimal place). Note also that by this time astronomical twilight had ended.

Moving on to AH which is on the same chart at 22:31 I could see star 8 which again meant that my limiting magnitude was fainter than 8.4. At 22:37 I found that AH was marginally brighter than star 8 (=8.4 mag.) but fainter than star 6 (=7.8 mag.). My estimate was 6(2)V(1)8 which made it 8.2.

Both these estimates are again in good agreement with other observers from the BAA and AAVSO.

All text and images © Duncan Hale-Sutton 2022