Psalm 19:1-2

Solitary Stars

Here are a few images of double stars and some of the more beautiful solitary stars. Most were taken using a Minolta Dimage 7i camera mounted to a ScopeTronics MaxView40 eyepiece. The telescope is a Meade LX-90 8" F/10 Schmidt-Cassigrain. For some, moving your mouse over the image will show more detailed information or will zoom in to the image. Clicking on the star name will bring up more information about the star from the Simbad Database.

Vega (Alpha Lyra) 5x60 seconds ISO 200 Meade LX-90/Canon 10D at Prime Focus Vega gets its name from the Arabic word for Swooping Eagle. It is about 50 times as bright and about 1.5 times as massive as the Sun. Vega is part of the asterism called "the Summer Triangle." The other two members are Altair in the constellation of Aquilla the Eagle, and Deneb in the constellation of Cygnus the Swan. Vega is also the first star to be photographed. It was photographed on the night of July 16-17, 1850 by photographer J.A. Whipple. Due to the Earth's precession (wobbling on its axis like a top) about 12,000 years ago Vega was our pole star. Earth makes the complete circle in the sky about every 26,000 years so in about 14,000 years Vega will be our pole star again. Vega is about 25 lightyears away.

Antares (Alpha Scorpio) 20x4 seconds ISO 400 Meade LX-90 Antares means "against Mars" or "rival of Mars" Mars, Aries in the Roman culture, was the bringer of War. I suppose they named it that because of its bright red color. It is one of the reddest stars that you can see without a telescope. Only Betelgeuse, Alpha Orion, is "Redder". Antares is the brightest of the Carbon Stars that you can see without a telescope. Antares is also a double star with a very faint blue-green companion. At magnitude 7 this companion is very difficult to see due to the glare that comes from Antares.

V-Aql 15x4 seconds ISO 400 Meade LX-90 This Carbon Star is so red that it is difficult to see in small telescopes even though it has a visual magnitude of about 6.8, just beyond the naked eye limit.

Capella in the day! 25x1/10 seconds ISO 100 Meade LX-90 This shows you that you CAN see stars in the daytime! Because of its color Capella is easily spotted during the day in small to moderately sized telescopes. This image was take at about 4:30 in the afternoon on May 2, 2004. Capella is also known as Alpha Auriga and is the brightest star in the constellation of Auriga the The Charioteer and is a "G" Type star simlar to the Sun shining at magnitude 0.9 making it the sixth brightest star in the sky. Capella lies at a distance of about 41 lightyears away.

Capella, Alpha Auriga 10x5 seconds ISO 400 Meade LX-90 Capella is also known as Alpha Auriga and is the brightest star in the constellation of Auriga the The Charioteer and is a "G" Type star simlar to the Sun shining at magnitude 0.9 making it the sixth brightest star in the sky. Capella lies at a distance of about 41 lightyears away. In this image you can see that Capella is actually a double star, it's companion, known as PPM 47926, is magnitude 10. Click on the image for a larger version.

Betelgeuse, Alpha Orion 15x5 seconds ISO 400 Meade LX-90 Betelgeuse, "Beetle-Juice" is also known as Alpha Orion and is the brightest star in the constellation of Orion the The Hunter and is a "M" Type star so it is very cool shining at magnitude 1.3. Betelgeuse lies at a distance of about 425 lightyears away. Betelgeuse is extremely large, more than 600 times as massive as the Sun, and is one of the only super giant stars that you can see without a telescope. One of the others is Antares in the constellation of Scorpio. If Betelgeuse is placed in the center of our solar system it would reach more than half the distance to the planet Jupiter swallowing up all four of the inner planets. Click on the image for a larger version.