What's a variable star? Some stars can dim, brighten, dim again, and so on in less than a second! Other stars can vary their brightness over a few years. Stars that periodically change their brightness like this are called “variable stars.” Watch our latest variable star episode to explore the Constellation Cepheus the king and the Cepheid variable star it contains! Just make sure to open it with the YouTube app if you're watching it on your phone so you can interact with the 360 video.
This variable star episode is brought to you by us here at the Charles W. Brown Planetarium at Ball State University, the International Planetarium Society, and the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) - an international consortium of amateur and professional astronomers. For more information on variable stars and how to observe them, visit the AAVSO website.
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