Beautiful Albireo (Beta Cygni)
Taken by Tom Wildoner on July 22, 2025 @
Weatherly, PA, USA
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Camera Used: Unavailable Unavailable
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Date Taken: 2025:08:02 08:03:02
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Details:
Albireo (or Beta Cygni) is the 5th brightest star in the constellation Cygnus. Albireo appears to the naked eye to be a single star, but even through a modest telescope you will see a beautiful double star. The brighter yellow star is also a close binary system. The two stars are striking in their color contrast. This was the first double star I ever looked at as a young amateur astronomer in the 1970’s.
Burnham states “Albireo is one of the most beautiful double stars in the sky, considered by many observers to be the finest in the heavens for the small telescope. The brighter star is a golden yellow or ‘topaz’, magnitude 3.09, the ‘sapphire’ companion is magnitude 5.11. The separation is 34.3 seconds, an easy object for the low power telescope”. Burnham’s Celestial Handbook, Robert Burnham Jr., Volume 2.
Tech Specs: Meade 12” LX-90 SCT Telescope, Antares Focal Reducer, ZWO ASI2600MC camera running at 0F, 60 x 10 seconds, Celestron CGX-L pier mounted, ZWO EAF and ASIAir Pro, processed in DSS and PixInsight. Image Date: July 22, 2025. Location: The Dark Side Observatory (W59), Weatherly, PA, USA (Bortle Class 4).
Photographer's website:
https://www.thedarksideobservatory.com
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