New star discovered hidden in Big Dipper's Alcor-Mizar system

A sixth member of the Alcor-Mizar star system has been found. This time
it's a teeny-tiny red dwarf, Alcor B.

Historically, Alcor & Mizar were the first ever binary star system ever
discovered. Then it was later discovered systematically step by step
that Mizar was two tightly-bound stars itself, then three, and then
four. Alcor made up the 5th member of the system. Now Alcor itself is
revealed to be a binary too, bringing it upto 6. There is a possibility
that even more surprises will come out of this system in the future.
Maybe planets and brown dwarfs? The system is so well known and close,
but we're still discovering new things about it.

Yousuf Khan

Faint star orbiting the Big Dipper's Alcor discovered
"Next time you spy the Big Dipper, keep in mind that there is another
star, invisible to the unaided eye, contributing to this constellation.
According to a new paper published in The Astrophysical Journal, one of
the stars that makes the bend in the ladle's handle, Alcor, has a
smaller red dwarf companion. "
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...1210000851.htm