Algol: The Oldest Known Variable Star?

摘要

The eclipsing binary Algol was discovered in 1669. In 1783 John Goodricke determined its 2.867-day orbital period without a telescope. But a research group led by Lauri Jetsu and Sebastian Porceddu from the University of Helsinki in Finland thinks that the ancient Egyptian scribes may have been aware of Algol’s variability and may have been the first to record its period. The team’s results were announced last year, but their peer-reviewed paper was just published in the August 2013 Astrophysical Journal.