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

St. Louis MO

10 March, 2022

9:31 AM

Description

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