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Albireo - Binary System in Cygnus
A friend stopped by the observatory, and we decided to chase a double star.
The bright double star Albireo that marks the head of Cygnus the Swan is
a stunning example of contrasting colors and one of the finest double
stars in the heavens. Albireo lies in the middle of the Summer Triangle formed by the stars Vega, Deneb, and Altair.
The Albireo star system is approximately 380 light-years away, and it
takes 75,000 years for the stars to complete one orbit about each other.
Equipment:
Meade 8" LX90 Classic @f/10,
DSI II Color Camera,
IR blocking filter
100 x 1s, gain=100, offset=50
Image auto-stacked using Meade Envisage
Brightness and background levels set in Photoshop CS
This image was created with the help of the ESA/ESO/NASA Photoshop FITS Liberator.
July 31, 2010
Watauga Skies Observatory,
Watauga, Texas
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