Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Ursa Major (UMa)  ·  Contains:  79 zet UMa  ·  80 g UMa  ·  Alcor  ·  Mitsar  ·  Mizar  ·  The star Alcor (80UMa)  ·  The star Mizar (ζUMa)
Mizar A, B (Double Star), with Alcor, Gregg
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Mizar A, B (Double Star), with Alcor

Mizar A, B (Double Star), with Alcor, Gregg
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Mizar A, B (Double Star), with Alcor

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Description

One of the main stars found in the handle of the Big Dipper, Mizar is a visual double with a separation of 14.4 arcseconds (seen in the center here), each of which itself is a spectroscopic binary. Its combined apparent magnitude is 2.04.

Alcor is the other bright star above, which is also a double star, however, too tight to be resolved in this image.

Mizar was the first telescopic binary discovered, most probably by Benedetto Castelli who in 1617 asked Galileo Galilei to observe it.

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Mizar A, B (Double Star), with Alcor, Gregg