"Mira" - Word of the Day from the OED

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Mira, n.

DRAFT ENTRY Sept. 2010

Astron.

Brit. /mr/, U.S. /ma()r/  [< post-classical Latin Mira, use as noun (short for Stella Mira wonderful star, denoting Ceti (Johann Hevelius 1662, in Historiola Mirae Stellae)) of classical Latin mra, feminine of mrus wonderful, marvellous (see MIRACLE n.).] 

    1. A long-period variable star in the constellation Cetus ( Ceti), which is a red giant that fluctuates greatly in magnitude with an average period of the order of 331 days.
  It was the first periodic variable star to be identified as such, by J. P. Holwarda in 1638, having been recorded as a new star by D. Fabricius in 1596.

1833 E. H. BURRITT Geogr. of Heavens xiv. 57 A noted star in the neck of the Whale, called Mira, or the ‘wonderful star of 1596’. 1873 J. M. LOCKYER Elem. Lessons Astron. i. 21 Unlike Ceti(called also Mira, or the Marvellous)it [sc. Persei] is never invisible to the naked eye. 1890 A. M. CLERKE Syst. Stars viii. 113 The star has since conformed pretty regularly to a period of about a year, not always, however, filling its full measure of change. This, indeed, is the case with all variables of the Mira-type. 1911 Encycl. Brit. XXV. 785/2 No variability of the line-of-sight motion of Mira has been found, so that it is probably not accompanied by any large companion. 1967 Science 11 Aug. 635/2 All of his reddest stars vary in brightness and very probably belong to the class of relatively cool, long-period variable stars whose prototype is the well-known variable Mira. 1994 Africa Environment & Wildlife Nov.-Dec. 96/1 Cetus contains Mira, the prototye and best studied of another class of variable star.

    2. Short for Mira variable n. at Compounds. Freq. attrib.

[1890 A. M. CLERKE Syst. Stars xii. 184 As a variable, Geminorum may be described as an abortive specimen of the Mira class.] 1964 Astrophysical Jrnl.: Suppl. Ser. 9 142 Altogether forty-one long-period variables were observed: twenty-nine Miras and twelve semiregulars. 1969 Monthly Notices Royal Astron. Soc. 146 411 The shorter period Miras ( 130 days) deviate from this period-luminosity relation. 1989 Sky & Telescope Dec. 571/2 The outer disk will continue to thicken as the Mira loses mass. 1992 S. P. MARAN Astron. & Astrophysics Encycl. 774/1 Considerable mass is being lost in the Mira phase.

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    COMPOUNDS

    Mira star n. = Mira variable n.

1936 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.SA. 22 267, I..propose to investigate the possibility that the emission lines in *Mira stars are produced by energetic interstellar rays. 1965 Ann. Rev. Astron. & Astrophysics 3 250 The position of the..Mira stars..is also indicated. 1992 Science 16 Oct. 422/1 The distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) has..been determined from Cepheid variables, RR Lyrae variables, Mira stars, novae, planetary nebulae, and supernova 1987A.

    Mira-type adj. of or belonging to the class of variable stars of which Mira ( Ceti) is a member.

1959 A. SPITZ & F. GAYNOR Dict. Astron. & Astronautics 257 *Mira-type stars, a group of more than 1300 stars having the same pattern of variability as Mira. 1964 R. H. BAKER Astron. (ed. 8) xii. 394 Mira-type variables are variable in cycles of from 3 months to more than 2 years, and most commonly around 10 months. 1995 Astron. Jrnl. 109 341/1 Three Mira-type stars, X Oph, Ceti, and R Aqr, have close companions.

    Mira variable n. a variable star of a class of which Mira ( Ceti) is considered typical, characterized by fluctuation in brightness in a roughly regular cycle with a comparatively long period.

1905 A. M. CLERKE Syst. Stars (ed. 2) v. 54 The distinctions between our sun and a *Mira-variable, though strongly pronounced, may have been brought about by insensible gradations. 1960 Astrophysical Jrnl. 132 273, R Ser is normally a fairly typical Mira variable. 1988 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) A. 325 426 The various types of AGB [= Asymptotic Giant Branch] star such as oxygen-rich and carbon-rich Mira variables..may produce [dust] grains of significantly different composition.

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