Astrophotography wouldn’t be anything without optics. To peer past the 6th-magnitude requires ‘eyes’ much stronger than our own — specifically, we need tools that help us gather more light, magnifying them for our own use.
In other words, we’d need something that’d help us catch more light — a telescope. We’ve been able to pry valuable data from them, providing a source for a steady stream of surprises.
Located right in the heart of Corona Borealis, R Coronae Borealis (RcB), by all standards, is a ‘surprise’. A G-type hypergiant, it shines at a brightness of 10,000 suns, shining at a temperature of 6,750 kelvins. Located around 1400 parsecs away, it’s a 6th magnitude star — just barely above the threshold for it to be visible.