STARS UP CLOSE - IMAGES
The B&W image is the star Altair, in the summer constellation Aquilia. It looks “big” simply because it is so bright that it overwhelmed the film and the image bloomed. The spikes are caused by diffraction in the optics – a very similar effect that causes us to see spikes on stars naked eye. The color image is the double star 61 Cygni. You can just tell that there are two close stars, nearly identical in brightness. In this case, the diffraction spikes (doubled) help confirm that there are indeed two stars there.
P.s. Chech out my column from yesterday (I submitted it late) shows our own star up close - the sun! Tom
© 2004 Thomas Dey - 12/22/04
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