Astrophotography

by Matthew Earnshaw

You could fit more than 50 solar systems, end to end into the space between the two stars in this image.

Albireo is a binary (orbiting wrt a common barycentre) double star in Cygnus.
Albireo A is the brighter of the two and is a K spectral type, appearing a golden colour. It is itself is a binary double but the two stars comprising Albireo A are much too close to split except perhaps with VLBI or similar techniques. Albireo B is a B spectral type and appears blue.

The diffraction spikes were added artificially to better represent the view seen in telescope. The colours are original.

Stellar spectral classes