Having spent the past three nights peering upwards towards the constellation Perseus, it occurred to me that some of you might be interested in some of the curious mythology surrounding this part of the sky. Perseus, you may recall, was the Greek hero who slew the Gorgon Medusa (snakes for hair and all that!) To the ancients who named the constellations, he is carrying her head in his hand: her eye is the star Algol. This name - like many star names - comes from an Arabic source: al Ghul, the ghoul.
This star was often nicknamed 'the Winking Demon', due to the fact that its brightness regularly fluctuates. It is an example of an eclipsing binary system: a dimmer partner passes in front of Algol every three days, causing it to dim visibly.
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