Dippin Dots


Nikon D90, 18-105mm

(taken a year ago today)

Megrez chose that moment to hide behind a tree branch.

Fun fact: As you might know, the second star from the bottom in this pic, the middle of the big dipper's handle, is a double star: Mizar (the bright one) and Alcor (the dimmer one). And they are actually a pair (and not just coincidentally near each other from our vantage point). But it turns out that Alcor is itself a double star. And Mizar is actually two doubles. So there are six stars there, even though we can only see two.

One thought on “Dippin Dots

  1. ChrisR

    Fascinating, thanks! My head spins a bit when I read about some binary star where one of the stars itself is a binary, but this takes it to a whole new level. Going to have some new reading on Wikipedia tonight.

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