dipper@utastro.UUCP (Debbie Byrd) (12/06/85)
The star known to the ancients as Mira the Wonderful is visible this month only through telescopes. More about Mira -- after this. December 6: The Whale In the southern sky this month, there's a constellation called Cetus -- in mythology, the whale. Cetus is a large, dim constellation you won't find from the city. If you do go into the country to see it, you'll find a friendly looking monster -- with a head like a graceful pentagon -- made of five stars. Cetus juts up in the sky between the zodiacal constellations Taurus and Pisces. In a very dark sky, it looks something like a kite with many tails. In mythology, Cetus was the sea monster that rose up from the waves to make dinner of the princess Andromeda. He was prevented from doing so by Perseus, who outwitted the whale, saved the princess, and won for them all a place in the sky. In the 17th century Cetus was something else -- the biblical whale that swallowed Jonah. Today, Cetus still has a claim to fame -- a certain one of its stars, known as Mira the Wonderful. Mira changes dramatically in brightness over about a year's time period. It goes from being visible in a dark sky -- to being invisible except through a telescope. Mira reached its minimum brightness last month -- which means it's now getting brighter again -- but still isn't bright enough to be seen with the naked eye. If you could see Mira, you'd find a reddish star, located at the heart of the constellation Cetus. It's one of many such variable stars in the night sky -- a source of wonder to the ancients -- and a target of modern-day astronomical observations. Script by Deborah Byrd. (c) Copyright 1984, 1985 McDonald Observatory, University of Texas at Austin