Over 3,000 years ago, Egyptians recorded the variability of Algol, B Persei. They called Algol, Horus, as a god that represented divinity and kingship. The period that they observed was 2.85 days between peaks of brightness. Algol is now known as an Eclipsing Binary with a varying period over the years. The science of Variable Star observing seeks to learn the behaviors of stars and refine our knowledge of stellar astrophysics through these observations. This lesson will provide a general overview as to why we study Variables.
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