Epsilon Lyrae - Quadruple Star
Epsilon Lyrae is a very well-known quadruple star in the constellation Lyra, which is around 160 light-years away from Earth. The two components,
which themselves also form a double star system, are referred to below as eps1 and eps2.
eps 1: 5.06/6.02mag, distance 2.2”, orbital period 1800 years | A4/F1 with 2.3/1.6 solar masses
eps 2: 5.14/6.37mag, distance 2.4”, orbital period 0720 years | A8/F0 with 1.9/1.7 solar masses
It is assumed that the two binary star systems eps1/2 orbit each other once in 300-400,000 years. Of course, this period is far too long to optically
observe changes in position, so the value quoted is based on calculations. All four stars shine 8-32 times brighter than the sun - they are therefore
significantly brighter than our central star and, with surface temperatures of 8,000 Kelvin, also hotter.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In my 20” telescope, the quadruple star offers a wonderful sight and can be easily separated at a magnification of 120x. All of the stars have a
whitish tint.
However, the drawing was not so much about the double stars themselves, but about the many stars in the vicinity, which are rarely mentioned in pictures
and/or drawings. I therefore devoted myself to these in more detail and drew all the stars that I could see at a magnification of 120x to 210x. At higher
magnifications, of course, even more stars become visible, but that was too time-consuming for me ;)
In order to better represent the quadruple star, the distance between the close components is slightly larger than in reality.
