here are several others of the same type: these are not,
properly speaking, variable stars. But there are many others the
intrinsic light of which undergoes actual variations.

In order to realize this, let us imagine that our Earth belongs to such
a sun, for example, to a star in the southern constellation of the
Whale, indicated by the letter [omicron], which has been named the
"wonderful" (Mira Ceti). Our new sun is shining to-day with a dazzling
light, shedding the gladness of his joyous beams upon nature and in our
hearts. For two months we admire the superb orb, sparkling in the azure
illuminated with its radiance. Then of a sudden, its light fades, and
diminishes in intensity, though the sky remains clear. Imperceptibly,
our fine sun darkens; the atmosphere becomes sad and dull, there is an
anticipation of universal death. For five long months our world is
plunged in a kind of penumbra; all nature is saddened in the general
woe.

But while we are bewailing the cruelty of our lot, our cherished
luminary revives. The intensity of its light increases slowly. Its
brilliancy augments, and finally, at the end of three months, it has
recovered its former splendors, and showers its bright beams upon our
world, flooding it with joy. But--we must not rejoice too quickly! This
splendid blaze will not endure. The flaming star will pale once more;
fade back to its minimum; and then again revive. Such is the nature of
this capricious sun. It varies in three hundred and thirty-one days, and
from yellow at the maximum, turns red at the minimum. This star, Mira
Ceti, which is one of the most curious of its type, varies from the
second to the ninth magnitudes: we cite it as one example; hundreds of
others might be instanced.

Thus the sky is no black curtain dotted with brilliant points, no empty
desert, silent and monotonous. It is a prodigious theater on which the
most fantastic plays are continually being acted. Only--there are no
spectators.

Again, we must note the _temporary stars_, which shine for a certain
time, and then die out rapidly. Such was the star in Cassiopeia, in
1572, the light of which exceeded Sirius in its visibility in full
daylight, burning for five months with unparalleled splendor, dominating
all other stars of first magnitude; after which it died out gradually,
disappearing at the end of seventeen months, to the terror of the
peoples, who saw in it the harbinger of the world's end: that of 1604,
in