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Algol (β Per) is a bright eclipsing binary system located in the northern constellation of Perseus and one of the best-known variable stars in the sky. Often referred to as the "Demon Star" most of the time it shines at mag. +2.1 but every two days, 20 hours and 49 minutes the star suddenly dips in brightness to mag. +3.4, remaining dim for about 10 hours before returning to its original state.

Why the change in brightness? The Algol system consists of at least three-stars (β Per A, β Per B and β Per C) with the orbital plane of Algol A and B directly in line with the Earth. The regular dips in brightness occur when the dimmer B star moves in front of and eclipses the brighter A star. There is also an extra dimension in that a secondary eclipse occurs when the brighter star occults the fainter secondary resulting in a very small dip in brightness that can be detected with photo-electrical equipment.

Algol System (credit - Dept. of Physics and Astronomy - Univ. of Tennessee at Knoxville)

Algol is located in Perseus among the stars of the northern Milky Way. It's positioned west of mag. +0.1 star Capella (α Aur) and southeast of the well known "W" of Cassiopeia. The finder chart below shows the position of Algol along with magnitude data of some surrounding stars for comparative purposes.

Finder Chart for Algol (credit:- freestarcharts)

Finder Chart for Algol (credit:- freestarcharts) - pdf format

For those new to variable star observing, Algol is an excellent first choice target. It dims quite dramatically and the regular brightness changes are obvious to the naked eye. The table below contains date and time information of Algol's minima for January 2017 for various World time zones that cover most regions of Europe, America, China and Australia. For time zones not listed, local eclipse times can be calculated by adjusting the table to fit to the observers local time.

Algol Minima for January 2017

DateTime (UT-GMT)Time (CET-Europe)Time (ET-N America)Time (PT-N America)Time (CST-China)Time (AEDT-Australia)
Jan 0212:1513:1507:1504:1520:1523:15
Jan 0509:0510:0504:0501:0517:0520:05
Jan 0805:5406:5400:5421:54 (Jan 07)13:5416:54
Jan 1102:4303:4321:43 (Jan 10)18:43 (Jan 10)10:4313:43
Jan 1323:3200:32 (Jan 14)18:3215:3207:32 (Jan 14)10:32 (Jan 14)
Jan 1620:2221:2215:2212:2204:22 (Jan 17)07:22 (Jan 17)
Jan 1917:1118:1112:1109:1101:11 (Jan 20)04:11 (Jan 20)
Jan 2214:0015:0009:0006:0022:0001:00 (Jan 23)
Jan 2510:4911:4905:4902:4918:4921:49
Jan 2807:3908:3902:3923:39 (Jan 27)15:3918:39
Jan 3104:2805:2823:28 (Jan 30)20:28 (Jan 30)12:2815:28