22 - Other variable things

Summary

What else does the sky have that varies? Besides stars, there are other objects worth noting. Some are easily visible, and others are beyond the reach of all but the most powerful telescopes and detectors. They range in distance from a few million kilometres to billions of light years.

Variable nebulae

In the constellation of Monoceros is a variable star called R. It varies irregularly by about half a magnitude around 11. However, the star is usually very hard to see. The reason is that it is embedded in a nebula which also varies in brightness! This object is known as Hubble's variable nebula, NGC 2261, after the Mount Wilson astronomer who in 1916 discovered that it varies in brightness, size, and even shape. The variation does not seem to follow the brightness changes in R Mon, and they do not occur with any regularity.

R Monocerotis and its nebula probably represent a planetary system in an early stage of formation. At least two other variable nebulae are known, NGC 1555 in Taurus, and a tiny wisp in Corona Austrina, NGC 6729, the home of R Coronae Austrinae. (See p. 151.)

Active galaxies

Innocently displaying some irregular brightness changes are a number of objects that have recently been identified as the cores of galaxies. The Seyfert galaxies are spiral galaxies with starlike nuclei that are very bright and slightly variable.