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Thanks Steve for bringing this challenge to my attention.
I spent almost an hour finding and observing this star under quite good conditions last night.
I had my 18" set up which I can use with a 7" off axis mask, + my 106mm Sharpstar for which I have an 80mm mask for courtesy of 3D printing by Meru.
Since there are no prominent stars or even any NGC objects nearby, it was dial up by RA& Dec to find the star. I did this in the 18" first up and located HJ5188 and the 10th mag companion was of course bright in this aperture, but as usual the separation not so good.
masking down to 7" saw lovely airy disc and easy separation - the companion was clear, well separated and distinct.
Now with the 106mm. Found the star - it is in fact in a nice field with a 7th mag star well to the north, another 8th mag about 2' to the north and a nice little 8th or 9th mag double about 3' or 4' ENE.
Knowing just exactly where to look made it not too hard in the 106mm - with a bit of patience I would have detected it regardless. It was not easy by any means. I was using 140x and I could also see & split the other double ENE at 106mm.
Now down to 80mm - using a mask means you are assured of correct focus which is a help. At 80mm and 140x the companion was only observed fleetingly and only because I knew where it was. The double ENE was also not easy, insufficient light gathering to make the split distinct. I would doubt any observation that showed this straight away in a non Apo 80mm.
All up a great test for scopes, thanks again Steve, If I were you I would try again at a slightly higher magnification than 100X.
John
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