The variable star Mira is bright now. I estimate it to be about magnitude 3. It has a maximum every 332 days.
The attached map is from SkyMapPro. Mira is marked by circles.
This map is from the AAVSO
http://www.aavso.org/charts/CET/OMI_CET/OMICET-A.GIF
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mira
"Evidence that the variability of Mira was known in ancient
China,
Babylon or
Greece is at best only circumstantial.
[7] What is certain is that the variability of Mira was recorded by the astronomer
David Fabricius beginning on
August 3,
1596. Observing the planet
Mercury, he needed a reference star for comparing positions and picked a previously unremarked third-magnitude star nearby. By
August 21, however, it had increased in brightness by one
magnitude, then by October had faded from view. Fabricius assumed it was a nova, but then saw it again on
February 16,
1609 [8].
In 1638
Johannes 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" or "astonishing," in Latin) in 1662's
Historiola Mirae Stellae, 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)."