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Fnding your way around Fixed Stars
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Step-by-Step for beginners using the internet
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- Install the dynamic starmap screen saver from Website http://sos.netonecom.net
This lets you put in coordinates for a place and view a map of the heavens overhead, showing planets, constellations and Stars up to magnitude 7. The map is adjusted and changes every few minutes.
- On the screen saver, note the name of the star that is directly overhead at any one time. (Or punch in the coordinates from any other place on earth - make it real by using a place where someone you know lives, or where you are going on holiday, for instance - and note what Star is directly overhead)
- Go to Website http://www.winshop.com.au/annew/
and open the section on fixed stars. Find the star that you have noted and read all about it. (Suggestion: Create a file for fixed stars, and cut and paste the information of each fixed star that you read about into the file, and so building up your own library of fixed stars)
To study further on fixed stars, read Bernadette Brady's BRADY'S BOOK OF FIXED STARS*. See below
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Algol
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an eclipsing binary star
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 ALGOL
Algol (Beta Persei) is a star in the constellation Perseus. Algol was the first known eclipsing binary star. It has a magnitude that ranges from 2.1 to 3.4; the period is 2.9 days.
| Some Eclipsing Binaries |
Magnitude Range |
Period
(days) |
| Delta Librae |
4.9-5.9 |
2.3 |
Algol
(Beta Persei) |
2.1-3.4 |
2.9 |
ECLIPSING BINARYAn eclipsing binary is two close stars that appear to be a single star varying in brightness. The variation in brightness is due to the stars periodically obscuring or enhancing one another.
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