The Truth About Eta Cass

Almost every published list of good objects to observe at this time
of year includes the lovely yellow and red binary. Some quote the
descriptions of various classic observers (Burnham's Celestial
Handbook, and James Mullaney's Celestial Harvest are good sources for
these earlier characterizations) but hardly anyone says anything new..
This shortcoming is true I think of the descriptions of many objects on
many published observing lists, and it is not entirely a bad thing
since what has been repeated many times and in many places may yet be
new to a particular observer.
Sue French's "Small Scope Sampler" column in Sky & Telescope is an
exception: Her writing is always characterized by originality. I find
that I learn something new from her columns about even the most well
known and frequently discussed celestial objects. Her description of Eta
Cass is to me an example. I never knew that Eta Cass A was so very like
our sun (and that one could therefore show a newcomer to astronomy how
our sun would look at say 19 or 20 light years away) And I never knew
that Eta Cass B was one of the few red dwarfs easily visible in very
small telescopes. (Surely this has been said in other places, but I
think not very often.) Because of their originality and sprightly
style, I like Sue French's columns a great deal.
Bill Meyers