More famously known asthe 'Double Double',epsilon Lyrae is amagnificent double binary system,just a little to the south-west of Vegain the sky. In poor skies epsilonappears as a single fourth magnitudestar, but those with good eyesight indark skies should be able to split itinto two very similar stars separatedby 3.5 arcminutes aligned nearlynorth–south, with the northernmoststar being classified epsilon', and thesouthernmost epsilon'.

摘要

When he observed them in 1779,William Herschel described epsilonLyrae as "a very curious double-double star. At first sight it appearsdouble at some considerable distance,and by attending a little we see thateach of the stars is a very delicatedouble star." Indeed, telescopes withapertures as small as 80mm shouldbe able to distinguish the two stars asbinary systems themselves.