Today in the history of astronomy, the first record of a periodic variable star has been set.
Variable star Meera was first recorded in 1596. Today, it is well known for its long, comet -like tail, here is shown using NASA’s Galaxy Evolution Explorer (Galax) Space Telescope’s data. Credit: Bipradeep Saha/NASA
- David Fabricius, a Lutheran pastor with interests in cartography and science, was born in modern Germany in 1564.
- On August 3, 1596, Fabricius observed an unusually bright star in the Seats Nakshatra, initially describing it as wrong for a comet.
- Fabricius’s careful recording documentation of the star’s variability, which reopen it after 12 years and eventually disappeared by Dimping and eventually until October 1596.
- These observations form the first recorded example of a variable star, initially called “Race Meera” by Fabricius and was later formally named Meera by Johannes Hevelius.
David Fabricius was born in modern-day Germany in 1564. He became a lutheran priest, but maintained a strong interest in his entire life, worked as a cartographer and even with Tycho Brahma and Johannes Kepler. It is his discovery of August 3, 1596, that he is best known, although: when he saw an unusually bright star in the Seatus the Whale, he initially thought that it was a new comet. He regularly recorded his position, and saw it dimming it by the end of the month. By October, it had gone completely, but 12 years later, it appeared again. This makes Fabricius’ comments the first record of a variable star. Writing Capler about Star in 1609, Fabricius called it Race MeeraLatina for “amazing thing”; Johannes Hevelius formally gave the name Meera for the object in 1662.
