Albireo: A Gem In The Sky

Some stars in the sky are true gems. Albireo (aka Beta Cygni) is one such case. Albireo is a double star in constellation Cygnus. Shining at magnitude 3.2, it is in fact made up of a copper-red main component, with a fainter blue companion located at about 35 arcseconds. The striking color contrast probably makes Albireo the most beautiful double star in the whole sky.

This image was acquired with a QHY 163M CMOS camera, a QHY filter wheel with Optolong R, G and B filters through a 10-inch GSO RC with and AP CCDT67 reducer. 8 1-minute subs for each filter, for a total of 24 minutes of exposure time.

When I have time, I will add some images of the most interesting and/or brightest stars to my website.