Wednesday, November 30, 2016 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
9
Stars over Sisters
ByKChayceKSproatK&KK
AlexKBurroughs
Keep an eye out in
December for the star
Algol in the constellation
Perseus. Positioned high
overhead during the eve-
ning hours, this object was
known to early stargazers
as the “demon” star. In fact,
Algol is an Arabic word that
means the “Demon’s Head.”
So, what did this star
ever do to attract so much
attention from ancient sky-
watchers? Its odd behavior,
compared with most other
stars, is the answer.
The second-brightest
star in Perseus, Algol is the
first eclipsing binary star to
be discovered. In this sys-
tem, two stars rotate about
a common center of gravity.
So far, no big deal—many
stars do that. But in Algol’s
case, the orbital plane of
these stars is directly in line
with the earth. From our
vantage point we see Algol
change brightness as the
two stars continually eclipse
each other. At its brightest,
Algol has a visual magni-
tude of 2.1 that dims to 3.4
magnitude. The cycle takes
exactly 2 days, 20 hours and
49 minutes, and a change
in brightness can be seen
with the unaided eye over a
period of just a few hours.
There’s an interest-
ing bit of star-lore con-
nected with Algol. It seems
that Perseus the Hero was
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tasked with rescuing the
maiden Andromeda who
was chained to rocks on the
seashore of Aethiopia as a
sacrifice to Cetus the Sea
Monster. To ensure his suc-
cess, Perseus had to first do
battle with Medusa, the hid-
eous serpent-headed gorgon
whose stare turned hapless
onlookers to stone.
Using a mirror to deflect
her gaze, Perseus was able
to slay Medusa by sever-
ing her head. The Hero then
directed Medusa’s terrible
appearance toward Cetus,
permanently paralyzing
the monster, allowing for
the rescue of Andromeda.
Algol’s variable brightness
is sometimes associated
with the evil, winking eye
of Medusa.
The winter solstice is
responsible for the shortest
day and the longest night
of the year in the northern
hemisphere. It is caused
by the fact that the earth’s
North Pole is tilted away
from the sun. This year the
alignment will occur on
December 21 at 2:44 a.m.
PST.
The Geminids is a meteor
shower that, instead of being
associated with a comet,
originates from an asteroid
known as 3200 Phaethon
that takes about 1.4 years to
orbit the sun. These mete-
ors are always seen between
December 4 and December
17. This year the shower will
peak in the early morning
of December 14. Normally
the shower is one of best of
the year, yielding about 120
meteors per hour, but this
time around a full moon will
mask many of them.
The reason this shower is
called the Geminids is that
the meteors appear to ema-
nate from the constellation
Gemini.
The three inner planets
Mercury, Venus and Mars
appear in the western sky
during December. At the
beginning of the month
Mercury can be seen about
half an hour after sunset low
on the horizon. The small-
est planet becomes some-
what easier to observe as
it pulls farther away from
the sun throughout the first
half of the month, then
heads back toward the sun
thereafter.
Above and to the left of
Mercury is brilliant Venus,
and even higher and farther
to the left is Mars. These
planets form a slanting
straight line.
Jupiter is in the constel-
lation of Virgo and can
be best viewed about four
hours before sunrise. Saturn
is too close to the sun this
month to see, but will reap-
pear in the east at sunrise
right around the New Year.
The month will start
off with a waxing moon,
becoming full on December
13. From here the moon is
on the wane before going
dark on December 28.
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Artist’sKimpressionKofKanKeclipsingKbinaryKstarKsystem,KsuchKasKAlgolKinK
theKconstellationKofKPerseus.
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