Variable Stars

sci:astro:variable_stars

Some stars truly change. Algol dims every few days because a dark companion eclipses it — and the Arabs had named it Ras al-Ghul, the Demon's Head, the winking star. Mira fades and returns as it pulses, and was named 'the Wonderful'. Eta Carinae erupted in the 1840s — and the Boorong had a name for that red star. The names caught the change before the physics could.