long-period variableUsually taken to be another name for a Mira star. In the past, the term was applied more generally to mean any red giant or supergiant pulsating variable with a period of 20 to 1,000 days, including, in addition to Mira variables, semi-regular variables and slow irregular variables. Long-period blue variables are pulsating B stars with periods longer than one day and amplitudes generally less than 0.05 magnitude but occasionally up to 0.1 magnitude. Related entry• variable starsRelated category• TYPES OF STARAlso on this site: Encyclopedia of Alternative Energy & Sustainable Living Encyclopedia of History |