Mira, the Star That Vanished and Came Back
In 1596, a German pastor saw a new star appear in the sky, then fade away. Thirteen years later it came back.
What was reported
In August 1596, David Fabricius, a pastor and amateur astronomer in East Frisia, noticed a bright star in the constellation Cetus, the whale, where he hadn't seen one before. Over the following weeks it faded and disappeared. He assumed it was a 'new star', like the one seen in 1572.
In 1609, he saw it again in the same place. Astronomers realised it was appearing and vanishing in a regular cycle, and Johannes Hevelius named it Mira, 'the wonderful'.
Explanations offered
Mira was the first star known to change its brightness in a regular cycle, which upset the old belief that the heavens never change. It's a huge, cool red giant that swells and shrinks over about 332 days, becoming hundreds of times brighter at its peak. Like other ageing stars, it's shedding gas into space, and leaves a tail behind it.
- When
- First noticed in 1596
- Where
- Resterhafe, East Frisia, Germany
- Witnesses
- David Fabricius, then astronomers across Europe
- Status
- Explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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