[saberscorpx]

Cetus would arguably make a better mermaid than monster.
After all, the jewel-like Mira seems more appropriately adorned by a beautiful sea nymph than forever found lodged in a whale's gullet.
The added mythological spice of the catfights with Cassiopeia alone would've been worth it.

With a period of about 11 months the red giant omicronCeti (named Mira 'the wonderful' by Hevelius) is the brightest and most famous long period pulsating variable in the sky, and gave the name to this whole class of stars. Ultraviolet images from the GALEX space observatory have also revealed a comet-like tail trailing Mira. This tail is thought to be composed of material that was ejected by the star sometime over the past 30,000 years.

From a distance of some 400 LY, it changes in brightness normally between maxima of about 3rd magnitude and minima of about mag 10, but occasionally brighter maxima up to mag 2 are observed.
The next is scheduled for Jan 1-10 2008, but its naked eye visibility window can last for several weeks on either side of maxima.

Mira maximas thru 2012:

2008: Jan 1-10
2008: Dec 1-10
2009: Nov 1-10
2010: Oct 21-31
2011: Sep 21-30
2012: Aug 21-31

And here are some pointer stars that guide us to Mira from the shorelines of the great celestial river:

Scheat thru Algenib (35 deg SE)
Beetlejuice thru Bellatrix (45 deg SW)
Saiph thru Rigel (45 deg WNW)
The Arrowtip of the Hyades (35 deg SW)
Mira also transits about 10 minutes after Hamal aka alphaAri (25 deg N)

Enjoy the show.


SJS