Variable Stars

Students learn that many stars change in brightness, and why: pulsating stars like Mira and Cepheids, eclipsing binaries like Algol, dust and outbursts like Betelgeuse's Great Dimming and Eta Carinae, and how these stars help measure the universe.

Grades 5-8About 15 minutes of narrated flight, plus discussion stops8 stops

The full guide, with the 40-minute plan, discussion key points, exit ticket, activities, transcript and PDF, comes with a teacher license. Already licensed? Use Open the full guide.

What students will see and do

Students fly to the Sun, Mira, Delta Cephei, Polaris, Algol, Betelgeuse, the Carina Nebula (home of Eta Carinae) and the Andromeda Galaxy. Aetherion pauses for discussion at Algol (telling an eclipse from a pulse), Betelgeuse (using evidence to explain the Great Dimming) and Andromeda (why many volunteer observers help science).

Learning objectives

• Identify three causes of changing star brightness: pulsation, eclipses by a companion, and dust or eruptions.
• Describe how Cepheid variables such as Delta Cephei and Polaris pulse on a steady schedule.
• Explain how an eclipsing binary like Algol dims when one star passes in front of the other.
• Use the example of Betelgeuse's Great Dimming to describe how scientists test explanations with evidence.

NGSS connections

Stops on this journey

1. Even the Sun Flickers
2. Mira, the Wonderful Star
3. The Star That Keeps Time
4. The North Star Pulses Too
5. The Winking Demon Star (discussion stop)
6. The Great Dimming (discussion stop)
7. A Star That Erupted
8. Why Changing Stars Matter (discussion stop)

Vocabulary

• variable star
• pulsating star
• Cepheid variable
• eclipsing binary
• light curve
• red giant
• supergiant
• supernova