Star Vistas

Vega, or Alpha Lyrae, shines like a beacon against a stellar background in the constellation Lyra.  It is the 5th brightest star in the entire sky, and can be seen almost overhead in the summer sky as part of the “Summer Triangle” of very bright stars including Deneb and Altair at the other vertices.  Vega is only about 25 light-years from Earth, and is a relative youngster at only 500 million years of age.  At twice the mass of our Sun, it is 50 times as luminous.  Thus an observer on a planet around Vega might perceive our Sun as just another star in the background of stars.  And they might be looking this way right about now as radio signals from Earth have been reaching Vega for the better part of a century.

This image comprises 103 sub-exposures at 10-seconds per sub with a Starlight Xpress SXV-H9C CCD camera on an 11″ f/1.85 Hyperstar equipped Celestron C11.  Even though the sub-exposures were only 10-seconds each, a small magnitude 14 galaxy PGC62205 has been captured near the upper-left corner!