Star
Albireo
Orange star · K3II+...
β1 Cygni · Cygnus
Shown in its true colour — like most stars, it is too far away to photograph as more than a point of light.
Albireo is a double star in the southern constellation of Cygnus. It has the Bayer designation Beta Cygni. The International Astronomical Union uses the name "Albireo" specifically for the brightest star in the system. Although designated 'beta', it is fainter than Gamma Cygni, Delta Cygni, and Epsilon Cygni and is the fifth-brightest point of light in the constellation of Cygnus. Appearing to the naked eye to be a single star of magnitude 3, viewing through even a low-magnification telescope resolves it into its two components. The brighter yellow star, itself a very close trinary system, makes a striking colour contrast with its fainter blue companion.
Description from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).
In your sky
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Key facts
Distance
~434 light-years
Apparent mag.
+3.05
Spectral type
K3II+...
Luminosity
931 × Sun
Absolute mag.
−2.57
Catalogue
HIP 95947
Spectral type
K3II+...
True colour from its B–V index (1.09): a surface around 4500 K.
Did you know
- Albireo is also known as β1 Cygni.
- Its spectral type K3II+... marks it as a orange star.
- It lies in the constellation Cygnus.
