Hey Rich: George Wallerstein made his "purple star" observations on the nights of July 14, 17, and 25, 1958. (I personally would not arrive on earth for another 2-1/2 months.) It should be noted that the author was using a 60-inch telescope that night, a reflector. Not known is if he made his observation through the main instrument or an auxiliary telescope. Trying to perceive a subtle stellar tint should be done with a reflector or apochromatic refractor. Standard achromats will make their own contributions to the star's color. Racking the star out-of-focus will sometimes make tints easier to perceive. S&T reports the star reddening and dimming slightly, mag. 5.7 as of this morning (15th).
From: Richard Tenney <retenney@yahoo.com> Chuck,
Is your '58 date dyslexia, a correction, or an unusuallly bright recurrence?
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