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A variable star is a star whose size and brightness fluctuates.

Mira variables

Variable stars which were also red giants were known as Mira variable stars after Mira. (TNG episode: "Conspiracy")

Cepheid variables

Cepheid variable stars cyclically stored and released energy in the form of nova-like explosive pulses. (Decipher RPG module: Narrator's Guide)

Starfleet used Cepheid variables as guideposts for starship navigation, and some were tagged with navigation beacons. (TOS novel: The Wounded Sky; TNG novel: Dark Mirror; TOS novel: Doctor's Orders)

An unusual Cepheid variable constituted the type of phenomenon that Starfleet was obligated to study under General Order 13. (Last Unicorn RPG module: Star Trek: The Next Generation Players' Guide)

Cepheid variables were among the stars present in the galactic core. (TAS - Log Three novelization: The Magicks of Megas-Tu)

One of the shortest Cepheid cycles known in the 23rd century was the regular 89.39 hour burst cycle of DG Magellanis-Minoris in star cluster NGC 121. (TOS novel: The Wounded Sky)

In 2275, the USS Enterprise used Cepheid variables to navigate while traversing the Small Magellanic Cloud. (TOS novel: The Wounded Sky)

One of the larger Cepheid variables in Federation territory was Delta Campara, which had an irregular cycle. It was surveyed by the USS Excelsior in 2308 and the USS Stargazer in 2333. (STA novel: Enigma)

In the 24th century, Joan Aksah was reprimanded for flying a shuttle too close to an irregular Cepheid variable while taking sensor readings and getting trapped in an energy burst. (Last Unicorn RPG module: Star Trek: The Next Generation Core Game Book)

In 2367, the Cepheid variable RY Antliae was 0.5% above its energy baseline when scanned by the USS Enterprise-D. (TNG novel: Dark Mirror)

In the 2370s, Captain Rukin, CO of the Purveyor, considered leveraging the timely venting of energy from a Cepheid variable as a means of stealthily entering the Romulan Neutral Zone. (Last Unicorn RPG - The Way of D'era: The Romulan Star Empire module: Romulan Adventures mission: Duty or Conscience)

Flare stars

A flare star is a type of variable that cyclically generates massive solar flares capable of destroying a planet. (Decipher RPG module: Narrator's Guide)

Known variable stars

Appendices

Connections

Stellar classification
By class and type class O blue-violet star • class B blue star • class A blue-white star • class F white star (white dwarf) • class G yellow star (yellow dwarf • yellow giant) • class K orange star (orange giant) • class M red star (red dwarf • red giant • red supergiant) • boson star • brown dwarf • green star • N-type star • R-type star • S-type star • D-type star
By size or makeup black hole/black star • carbon star • dwarf star (brown dwarf • red dwarf • white dwarf • yellow dwarf) • giant star (blue giant • red giant • orange giant • yellow giant) • Lazarus star • microstar • neutron star (collapsar • magnetar • pulsar) • protostar • supergiant • hypergiant • variable star • white hole • Wolf-Rayet star

External link