Albireo

My photo of Albireo

The double star Albireo (the beak of the Swan Constellation - Cygnus) is one of the most beautiful double stars in the summer sky. When Cygnus is above the horizon, I rarely complete an evening's observation through my scope or binoculars without finding and viewing Albireo.

I believe that the jury is still out as to whether these two stars orbit each other or are instead just a line of sight double. If they do  revolve around a central point of gravity, they do so in a very slow celestial waltz which, in orbital terms,would take at least 100,000 years to complete.

The larger star Albireo A is itself a binary star, but its companion is so close,  that my telescope is unable to resolve them as a pair. The obvious colour difference between Albireo A (amber-red) and Albireo B (blue-green) is indicative of the temperature difference between the two stars, Albireo A being cooler and  Albireo B much hotter.

Albireo is approximately 380 light years from Earth.

Location map thanks to Wikipedia