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Session 96 - Cepheids and Supergiant Variable Stars.
Display session, Thursday, January 16
Metropolitan Ballroom,

[96.07] Mira: Still Wondrous after 400 Years

T. A. Mahler (Villanova U.), E. F. Guinan (Villanova U.), M. Karovska (Center for Astrophysics)

Mira (omicron Ceti AB) was discovered as a variable star 400 years ago. Mira is the prototype of a class of pulsating red asymptotic giants that under goes large (up to 5 mag) brightness variations with periods of a few hundred days. Mira itself is more complex (and more interesting) because it is a binary system composed of the luminous red (M4-7 III) star (Mira A) and a hot, accreting component 0.4 arcsec distant (Mira B). Mira A (and Mira-type stars in general) have large mass loss rates in the range of


Program listing for Thursday