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Story
July 15, 1889
The Pacific Commercial Advertiser
Honolulu, Honolulu County, Hawaii
What is this article about?
Explanation of variable stars, including known examples like Algol and Mira with their periodic brightness changes, and identifying the Sun as a variable star due to sunspots with an 11-year cycle.
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Variable Stars.
[Arkansaw Traveler.]
The brightness of some stars varies periodically, more than a hundred so-called variable stars being known, while many more are suspected variables. The periods range from a few days to many years.
The variation is usually slight, but is very marked in the cases of Algol and Mira, the former star alternating from the second to the fourth magnitude in a little less than three days, while the latter is a still more remarkable variable, being invisible most of the time and blazing up to second magnitude brilliancy at intervals of eleven months. The most interesting of stars of this class is our own sun, whose brightness is affected by the immense spots which appear on its surface and sometimes cover millions of square miles, and whose period of variability is eleven years.
[Arkansaw Traveler.]
The brightness of some stars varies periodically, more than a hundred so-called variable stars being known, while many more are suspected variables. The periods range from a few days to many years.
The variation is usually slight, but is very marked in the cases of Algol and Mira, the former star alternating from the second to the fourth magnitude in a little less than three days, while the latter is a still more remarkable variable, being invisible most of the time and blazing up to second magnitude brilliancy at intervals of eleven months. The most interesting of stars of this class is our own sun, whose brightness is affected by the immense spots which appear on its surface and sometimes cover millions of square miles, and whose period of variability is eleven years.
What sub-type of article is it?
Curiosity
What themes does it cover?
Nature
What keywords are associated?
Variable Stars
Algol
Mira
Sunspots
Astronomy
Periodic Variation
Story Details
Story Details
Describes periodic brightness variations in over a hundred known variable stars, with examples of Algol (2nd to 4th magnitude in under 3 days) and Mira (invisible to 2nd magnitude every 11 months), and notes the Sun's 11-year variability due to sunspots covering millions of square miles.