Mizar and Alcor, Double Star in Big Dipper


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ArchRival

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Not a good night for astrophotography. The moon was almost full, and images show low contrasts between stars and background sky. And the bloody mount suka suka anyhow drift in declination. In the end could only get 3 good images to stack, hence the noise.

Anyways, these are a famous pair of double stars in Ursa Major. They are not true binaries, given they are too far apart. Mizar itself has a true companion, but the 200mm f4L cannot resolve it. All 3 stars have been shown to be spectroscopic binaries.

Sidus Ludoviciana is an extra star in the background not related to the Mizar-Alcor system.
 

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I didn't know there was a binary star system in the Big Dipper. (but I have 'lost touch' with astronomy eons ago)...
 

A large percentage of stars are at least double, but nobody knows for sure how many. A good candidate for observing is Epsilon Lyrae. Lyra can be seen in rising in the north-eastern direction at about 2am. You can't miss it, the leading star is Vega.
 

Hi,
Yap... full Moon period are always not a good time to take Astrophotography especially wide field shot.

Anyway, not a bad one especially you only stack 3 images.

Hope to see more of your astro images and hope more clear sky ahead.

Have a nice day.
 

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