Mizar And Alcor Star System Close-up View
by Davide De Martin/science Photo Library
Title
Mizar And Alcor Star System Close-up View
Artist
Davide De Martin/science Photo Library
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
Mizar and Alcor are two stars forming a double-stars system easily visible at the naked eye in the constellation of Ursa Major. Mizar is the second star from the end of the Big Dipper's handle while Alcor is the fainter companion. In traditional Indian astronomy they are known as Vashistha and Arundhati and they symbolize marriage. Benedetto Castelli in the 16th century observed Mizar through a telescope finding that it was a binary system. In the following centuries, scientists using spectroscopy methods found that both members, called Mizar A and Mizar B, were binary systems. The Alcor-Mizar system was the first 5-star system ever discovered. Now we know that Alcor is also a binary system, making the Alcor-Mizar a 6-star system. This image was created from photographic material taken with the 1.22-metre Oschin Telescope at Mount Palomar Observatory, forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2.
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November 24th, 2019
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