Advancing age forces me to draw in my variable star observing horns and I do this by dropping certain old friends from my observing repertoire. One such is R Aqr, which I had been observing since the early 1950's. I hope that one or more Canopus readers will now take over this fascinating star.

Burnham, who devotes two pages to it, describes it as "An interesting and peculiar variable star . . . it sometimes reaches 6th magnitude and has an average period of 386 days, but individual periods may be very erratic.

R Aqr is a red pulsating giant of spectral class M7e, resembling the long period variables . . . the existence of a companion star seems definitely established . . .There is little doubt that both stars are intrinsically variable. FW Merrill has applied the term 'symbiotic stars' to objects of this type."

Burnham gives a good light curve of the variable, showing just how much its variability changed during a period of eight years.

R Aqr lies near some 5th magnitude stars and is easily found with the aid of Nortons.   

Enjoy it.

Danie Overbeek.