ALBIREO – BETA CYGNI

DOUBLE STAR IN CYGNUS - (ra: 19:30.43/ dec 27:57)

March 2009, Home Backyard in Martinez Buenos Aires, Argentina

DATA

TYPE: Doulbe Star

VISUAL MAGNITUDE: 3.08

SIZE: 5 solar masses / 50 solar radius

DISTANCE: 385 light years

IMAGE INFORMATION

SCOPE: Celestron C8 SCT working at f6 (roughly)

CAMERA: SXVF H9

GUIDING: none

IMAGE ACQUISITION: AstroArt 3.0 - Control Interface 3.72 plug in

FILTERS: Astronomik Type II - Atik Filter Wheel

SKY CONDITIONS: urban skies - transparency bad, seeing regular

EXPOSURES: LRGB (10,5,5,5) for a total 25 minutes with 30 seconds subs exposures

PROCESSING: Images Plus Sigma Median Combine. Only flats applied. CCD Sharp, Photoshop CS2

OBJECT DESCRIPTION AND IMAGE SESSION

One of the great small-telescope showpieces of the sky. Albireo, the third-magnitude (3.0) Beta star of Cygnus, is a magnificent visual gem. Its components (magnitudes 3.3 and 5.5) have contrasting golden and blue colours. Waxing romantic, astronomers have called the pair topaz and sapphire. With a separation of 34 seconds of arc, the pair is easily seen at low telescopic power. Albireo is actually triple system but through medium size telescopes two components are visible separated by 34 arc seconds providing one of the best contrasting double stars in the sky.