Mira is at Maximum Tonight- Get Out There and Take a Look!
Hi everyone
Just a heads up to let you'll know that the famous variable star, Mira (Omricon Ceti) in the constellation Cetus is at maximum right now, sitting at around mag. 2.3. It has an orange colour, and is nice and bright- you can't miss it- it's only about 17deg. away from Jupiter.
This is my first observation of Mira, and it's so exciting to see a bright star appear that wasn't there before.
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Mira is a binary star system that consists of a red giant (Mira A) undergoing mass loss and a high temperature white dwarf companion (Mira B) that is accreting mass from the primary. Such an arrangement of stars is known as a symbiotic system and this is the closest such symbiotic pair to the Sun. Examination of this system by the Chandra X-ray Observatory shows a direct mass exchange along a bridge of matter from the primary to the white dwarf. The two stars are currently separated by about 70 astronomical units.[10]
The maximum period of Mira is 21-30 Sept. 2011. So go out tonight!! (apologies for late notice, but I only found out myself yesterday ).
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Because of the form of its light curve, Mira is roughly visible to the naked eye (i.e., brighter than about 6th mag) for 1.5 months before and 2.5 to 3 months after its maximum.
Hey, thanks for that Suzy. Has always been on my "to do" list, but never seem to get around to finding it let alone watching for cycle. Certainly bright, even from my street light saturated front yard
2.3 is quite bright for Mira. I'm try to catch a glimpse soon.
Yes Jacqui, sure is. Seems you know Mira well.
Les D was telling me a couple of days ago that this was a nice bright one and that we can't be guaranteed next time around of such a bright event. He also said that the average brightness maximum is 3.5 mag., so this is a brighter than normal average.
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Originally Posted by RobF
Hey, thanks for that Suzy. Has always been on my "to do" list, but never seem to get around to finding it let alone watching for cycle. Certainly bright, even from my street light saturated front yard http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/....s/thumbsup.gif
Good on you Rob! Well worth a quick look see alright!
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Originally Posted by BlackWidow
Took your advice Suzy and got outside to have a look.... Just got hail in my eyes and wet leaves in my hair...
Go on Martin, get back out there again and take another look- I dare you. *boots Martin out the door*
On my first night of observing it a couple of nights ago (29th), when I saw that the sky had suddenly cleared, around 12.30 at night, I was out there in the freezing cold in my nighty, on my back on a yeeky cold concrete slab using a thrown out empty yalumba wine cask for neck support for bino viewing it at some ridiculously high altitude. I always knew there was a good reason why I drank. Desperate measures, call for desperate means. I was so gobsmacked at how bright this star was that I just couldn't get my eyes off it and observed it till around 2am. Next door's dog barked at me viciously for ages- and I was at my own back door. Probably woke the whole street up- the neighbours obviously got woken up because they had to keep coming out to settle the dog down around 1am.
Last night I observed it for ages naked eye and through the telescope on it's last day of maximum. Lost just a tiny bit of sparkle I thought?
Tonight, my 3rd consecutive viewing of it and it seems a wee bit dimmer. Still quite bright all the same. Tonight I really wished I knew how to measure this star.
I'm going to read thru the AAVSCO site tonight and find out how to measure it as it dips into it's minimum. That site isn't particularly easy (for me anyway) to navigate thru. If anyone can help me, I sure would appreciate it.
If anyone is interested in joining me on measuring Mira, please do and comment on this thread - I would love to hear feedback and it'd be fun to do so as a group.
Les D was telling me a couple of days ago that this was a nice bright one and that we can't be guaranteed next time around of such a bright event. He also said that the average brightness maximum is 3.5 mag., so this is a brighter than normal average.
No, I don't know it that well, but I've followed it a bit over the years. I know 2.3 is bright as I had a chance encounter with it the last time it was that bright, probably back in the 90's(?). I had been outside in the evening trying to find something else and I looked across to west where a bright orange-coloured star was blinking through the trees. I was a bit puzzled as to which star it was, as I was aware enough about the sky to know there wasn't usually a bright star in that area. It was a little while later I learnt that it was Mira, and that it was brighter than it had been for some time. So that's how I know.
I had a look last night and it was certainly easy to see. Thanks for the heads up on this one.
Very disappointed. Couldn't find it. Jupiter was very bright and the skies seemed clear although some mist. But Mira ?? Must be there, but perhaps cloud? Dunno. Anyone in Melbourne observe it?
Robert
Steve, what a beautiful shot, thank you so much!!!!
I need to find out the magnitude values of those stars, and if they are the stars that are used to observe Mira by.
I am not having any luck with AAVSO, it's too hard a site to navigate thru, and I need to find out quickly.
I observed it last night and it has noticeably dipped, however it's still quite bright to the naked eye.
So Robert, I'm guessing it's the cloud- it's hard to miss, honest. Please have another go- it's worth it.
Gee, would be interesting to see a graph of the sort of magnitude variations observed versus time. I didn't think it would have dimmed perceptibly so quick. Must read more on it.
Gee, would be interesting to see a graph of the sort of magnitude variations observed versus time. I didn't think it would have dimmed perceptibly so quick. Must read more on it.
Perhaps it was the sky conditions that made it seem a bit dimmer then? Seemed a clear night.
I don't know.. I'm confused now as this is my first variable star observation.
For the last 12mths I have been trying to train myself between different star brightness for when the time comes to do some variable obs, but I could be off the path here perhaps.
Rob, Here is a graph of the light curve for Mira.
Do you think it adds up to my obsersations?
According to the Australian Sky & Telescope Magazine (issue Nov/Dec 2009), Mira normally cycles between 3rd and 10th magnitude over a 11 month period.
I really would like some feed back from others observing Mira, so I can compare it to what I see, esp. as I'm a beginner in this field.
I have found a chart at AAVSO here to help plot the stars changes.
The comparison stars are 25,35,41 (that's mag. 2.5, 3.5, 4.1).
Steve, your image has been a great help with comparing to this chart, so again, many thanks.
Last edited by Suzy; 04-10-2011 at 03:30 AM.
Reason: Red highlight used.
Yeah, found it last night! Checked the charts and there it was. I would say approx. magnitude 3, but a very poor mag 3 in the Melbourne 'burbs. Sadly it wasn't as exciting as it should have been.
Robert
No criticism intended Suzy - hats off to you or anyone that does good variable star observing - sounds tricky to me. I can't open those links BTW?
Wow, mag 3 to 10 sure is a big change over 11 months - amazing really (so, I'm probably only a few thousand years late with my amazement and "discovery" )
Rob, I never took it as criticism. Pls accept my apologies if it came that way.
In my opinion (& it's got nothing to do with what you've said btw), the slight change I saw may indeed be imaginative star gazing or poor sky conditions, just wish there were other people observing that could see a difference in it so that I know if i'm on track or not.
Robert's post gives me some confidence tho. But it seems like I've been the only one viewing this on a nightly basis, so no one else to check my information with.
And I'm not that good, I'm only a beginner in this field.
But If I'm proven correct in my observation that Mira has noticeably dimmed slightly (for it to be visually noticeable), then I'll need a nice sharp pin for my big head and my hat will come off. .
I still have to learn mag. estimates. So far I've only been studying star brightnesses against each other. My first test now comes with observing the magnitudes of this star as it goes into minimum.
).
*boots Martin out the door* 
so still may give you a report
