As we looked to the northeast skies last week to catch the Perseid meteor showers we found the constellation of Perseus rising between 11PM and 12AM over Crested Butte Mountain. Within the constellation Perseus we have a distinctively bright star known as Algol. Algol translates from Arabic to “head of the ghoul” referring to the position of the decapitated head of Medusa that Perseus is renowned for having taken in Greek mythology. This particular star is referred to as the Demon Star or the Blinking Demon in English, Satan’s Head in Hebrew, Spectre’s Head in Latin and in China it is known as the Fifth Star of the Mausoleum or more morbidly as ‘piled up corpses’. It appears that around the world and throughout time Algol is not affiliated with happiness and health.

Algol is actually a triple star system and its apparent magnitude, or relative brightness, is variable depending upon which star is eclipsing the other two at the moment. Studies of Algol have presented astronomers with the Algol Paradox of stellar evolution. The theory of stellar evolution posits that stars in the same relative astronomical area formed at approximately the same time. However, when we observe binary star systems we generally see two distinctively dynamic styles of stars moving in very near relationship to each other. The paradox is the apparent lack of resolution between the two different pieces of information. The Algol Paradox was resolved through the discovery of stellar mass transfer. As a star system begins to spin around itself in outer space it transfers energy and therefore mass between the component stars therefore changing them dynamically and often radically depending upon the particular variables in the system.

To find Algol in the constellation Perseus, look to the north east skies of Crested Butte at about midnight. It will be traveling in the general area of sky and in a parallel arc with the waning slice of the Moon on the nights of August 13^th – 15^th.