Mira
Sign in to saveMira, pronounced , is a binary star in the constellation Cetus. It has the Bayer designation Omicron Ceti, which is Latinized from ο Ceti, and abbreviated Omicron Cet or ο Cet. The system consists of a variable red giant (Mira A) along with a white dwarf companion (Mira B). Mira A is a pulsating variable star and was the first non-supernova variable star discovered, with the possible exception of Algol. It is the prototype of the Mira variables. The system lies at a distance of .
AI overview
Mira is a binary star system in the constellation Cetus consisting of a pulsating red giant and a white dwarf companion, notable for being the first non-supernova variable star discovered and serving as the prototype for an entire class of similar stars. It matters because its discovery and study of its brightness variations helped astronomers understand stellar behavior and led to the identification of other stars with similar pulsating properties.
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Article
11 sectionsContents
- Nomenclature
- Observation history
- Distance and background Information
- Stellar system
- Component A
- Variability
- Mass loss
- Component B
- References
- Further reading
- External links
Mira, pronounced , is a binary star in the constellation Cetus. It has the Bayer designation Omicron Ceti, which is Latinized from ο Ceti, and abbreviated Omicron Cet or ο Cet. The system consists of a variable red giant (Mira A) along with a white dwarf companion (Mira B). Mira A is a pulsating variable star and was the first non-supernova variable star discovered, with the possible exception of Algol. It is the prototype of the Mira variables. The system lies at a distance of .
==Nomenclature== ο Ceti (Latinised to Omicron Ceti) is the star's Bayer designation. It was named Mira (Latin for 'wonderful' or 'astonishing') by Johannes Hevelius in his Historiola Mirae Stellae (1662). In 2016, the International Astronomical Union organized a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) to catalog and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN's first bulletin of July 2016 included a table of the first two batches of names approved by the WGSN, which included Mira for this star. thumb|Mira at two different times