[BAA 00268] Mira Ceti

[Rick]

Members may wish to know that this prototype long period variable is reaching a very bright maximum and according to John Toone is still rising and is now brighter than at any time since Feb/Mar 1997 when it peaked at mag 2.7.  The latest estimates place it at around magnitude 2.2.
A chart with suitable comparison stars can be found here

Mira can be found just after the onset of astronomical twilight at around 19.15 some 40 degrees from Venus in a north easterly direction from that planet i.e. higher in the sky than Venus and with a more southerly azimuth.

Maurice Gavin also has an image at:-
http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/attachments/1420586-ocet070212mg.jpg

Mira was found to be variable by Fabricius in 1596, the first such variable discovered.

Roger Pickard,
Director BAA VSS