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St. Louis Science Center: Astronomy Fact Of The Day: March 9, 2022

The constellation Perseus is visible in the northwest sky tonight at 8 pm. The second brightest star in this constellation is called Alg ...

(St. Louis Science Center)

March 09, 2022

The constellation Perseus is visible in the northwest sky tonight at 8 pm. The second brightest star in this constellation is called Algol, which is an eclipsing binary star system. It is comprised of a hot, more massive star and a cooler, less massive star. When the cooler star passes in front of the hotter one, part of the latter’s light is blocked, and we see a dimming effect occur. The min-max cycle of Algol occurs once every 2.87 days and is noticeable to the naked eye.

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This press release was produced by St. Louis Science Center. The views expressed here are the author’s own.