Explanation:
Sometimes, even a small telescope can help unlock a hidden beauty of the
heavens.
Such is the case of the bright double star
Albireo.
Seen at even slight magnification,
Albireo unfolds from a bright single point into a beautiful
double star of strikingly different colors.
At 380 light years distant, the two bright stars of
Albireo are comparatively far from each other and
take about 75,000 years to complete a single
orbit.
The brighter yellow star is itself a
binary star system,
but too close together to be resolved even with a telescope.
Albireo, pictured above, is the fifth brightest star system toward the
constellation of the Swan (Cygnus) and easily visible to the unaided eye.
