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Galaxies Nebulae Star Clusters Constellations Multiple Stars
Many stars visible with the naked eye are actually multiple star systems containing two, three, four or sometimes more stars where there appears to be one. Some of these are simply Optical doubles, that is they appear to be close but are not really associated with each other. Others are true Binary systems, where one star orbits round another. Sometimes one or more of the components of the binary is itself a binary star.

Click on the pictures to expand and see captions

3 September 2004: Albireo (Beta Cygni) In contrast to my previous picture of Albireo, this image was captured using the long-exposure facility of the modified Quickcam 3000. Although the two stars are bright enough for an unmodified webcam to pick them up, and even show the colour contrast, the long exposure clearly shows the beauty of this pair, and places them in context by showing plenty of background stars in this rich region of the milky way.
This image was also taken at prime focus of the 216mm f/5 telescope, rather than the older 114mm f/8 one.
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2 August 2004: The Double Double
In the constellation of Lyra lies the "Double Double". Properly denoted Epsilon Lyrae, this double star turns out on closer inspection to be formed of two double stars. Click the picture to see more details of this constellation.
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16 June 2004: Mizar and Alcor
The second star from the end of the handle of the "plough" (or Big Dipper) asterism in Ursa Major can be seen with the unaided eye to be actually two stars, named Mizar and Alcor. Click here to see The Plough and learn more about Mizar.
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25 June 2004: Albireo
Beta Cygni (Albireo), the head of the swan Cygnus, is one of the nicest double stars in the sky. It forms a beautiful blue and yellow pair, seen here at prime focus of the 216mm f5 Newtonian. Click the picture to close in and see the 34 arc-seconds separated pair captured through a 2x Barlow lens with a normal non-modified webcam.
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Daves Astronomy Pictures
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