Today in the history of astronomy, the first record of a periodic variable star is made.
Variable star Mira was first recorded in 1596. Today, it’s well-known for its long, cometlike tail, shown here using data from NASA’s Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) space telescope. Credit: Bipradeep Saha/NASA
- David Fabricius, a Lutheran pastor with interests in cartography and science, was born in 1564 in modern-day Germany.
- On August 3, 1596, Fabricius observed an unusually bright star in the Cetus constellation, initially mistaking it for a comet.
- Fabricius’s meticulous recordings documented the star’s variability, showing it dimming and eventually disappearing by October 1596, before reappearing 12 years later.
- These observations constitute the first recorded instance of a variable star, initially termed “res mira” by Fabricius and later formally named Mira by Johannes Hevelius.
David Fabricius was born in modern-day Germany in 1564. He became a Lutheran pastor, but maintained a strong interest science throughout his life, also working as a cartographer and even corresponding with Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler. It’s his discovery of Aug. 3, 1596, that he’s best known for, though: When he saw an unusually bright star in Cetus the Whale, he initially thought it was a new comet. He recorded its position regularly, and saw it dimming by the end of the month. By October, it was completely gone, but 12 years later, it reappeared. This makes Fabricius’ observations the first record of a variable star. Writing to Kepler about the star in 1609, Fabricius called it res mira, Latin for “wonderful thing”; Johannes Hevelius formalized the name Mira for the object in 1662.
