Mira, the Wonderful

[MeteorWayne]

<p>The star Mira ("The Wonderful", omicron Ceti)&nbsp;will be returning to (or probably has already returned to) visibility with the unaided eye. It will be visible shortly after sunset in the Constellations Cetus, just below the lower point of the "V" of Pisces. Mira is the brightest periodic variable in the sky that is not visible to the naked eye for part of its cycle. It is also the star that was shown a few years ago to have a long tail (not visible to the eye) as it plows through the galactic interstellar gas.</p><p>From Wiki:&nbsp;</p><p>"In 1638 Johann Holwarda determined a period of the star's reappearances, eleven months; he is often credited with the discovery of Mira's variability. Johannes Hevelius was observing it at the same time and named it "Mira" (meaning "wonderful, astonishing") in 1662's <em>Historiola Mirae Stellae</em>, for it acted like no other known star. Ismail Bouillaud then estimated its period at 333 days, less than one day off the modern value of 332 days (and perfectly forgivable, as Mira is known to vary slightly in period, and may even be slowly changing over time"</p><p>If it ever clears here in NJ, I will let you all know when I have spotted it for the first time in this cycle, unfortunately lousy weather has prevented that. The peak brightness is expected within the next two weeks.</p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[crazyeddie]

<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>The star Mira ("The Wonderful", omicron Ceti)&nbsp;will be returning to (or probably has already returned to) visibility with the unaided eye. It will be visible shortly after sunset in the Constellations Cetus, just below the lower point of the "V" of Pisces. Mira is the brightest periodic variable in the sky that is not visible to the naked eye for part of its cycle.<br /> Posted by MeteorWayne</DIV></p><p>Not to steal Mira's thunder, but today's APOD featured another very unique variable star: "La Superba" in Canes Venateci. &nbsp;It's the brightest carbon star visible to the naked eye, and it's distinctly reddish in color. &nbsp;Check it out with binoculars:</p><p>http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html</p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[MeteorWayne]

Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>Not to steal Mira's thunder, but today's APOD featured another very unique variable star: "La Superba" in Canes Venateci. &nbsp;It's the brightest carbon star visible to the naked eye, and it's distinctly reddish in color. &nbsp;Check it out with binoculars:http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html <br />Posted by crazyeddie</DIV><br /><br />The Super Red carbon stars are a spectaular sight in binoculars. We often call Betelgeuse and Antares "red" but until you have seen one of these, you have never seen a <strong><font size="4" color="#ff0000">red</font></strong> star. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[3488]

<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'><font color="#ff0000">The Super Red carbon stars are a spectaular sight in binoculars. We often call Betelgeuse and Antares "red" but until you have seen one of these, you have never seen a red star. <br /> Posted by MeteorWayne</font></DIV></p><p><font size="2"><strong>Hind's Crimson Star in Lepus, R Leporis as another very red, carbon rich star.</strong></font></p><p><font size="4"><strong>HST observation of Mira / Omicron Ceti.&nbsp;</strong></font></p><p><strong><font size="4">GALEX observation of Mira leaving a huge wake.&nbsp;</font></strong></p><p><font size="2"><strong>Andrew Brown.</strong></font>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[adrenalynn]

<p>I took a peek to see about photo ops on the two stars mentioned here.&nbsp; Mira is good for me early in the evening, about 9pm she'll be up high out of the muck.&nbsp; La Superba is the opposite - about 3AM.&nbsp; La Superba is surrounded by awesome objects though.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>I think if I shot wide-angle with her basically center, I should be able to get her, M106, M40, M101, M51, M63, M64, M3, and maybe M53 or Arcutrus in the shot.&nbsp; Depends a lot on how much magnification I need for a good photo of her.</p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>.</p><p><font size="3">bipartisan</font>  (<span style="color:blue" class="pointer"><span class="pron"><font face="Lucida Sans Unicode" size="2">bī-pär'tĭ-zən, -sən</font></span></span>) [Adj.]  Maintaining the ability to blame republications when your stimulus plan proves to be a devastating failure.</p><p><strong><font color="#ff0000"><font color="#ff0000">IMPE</font><font color="#c0c0c0">ACH</font> <font color="#0000ff"><font color="#c0c0c0">O</font>BAMA</font>!</font></strong></p> </div>