The Collaborative International Dictionary
Variable \Va"ri*a*ble\, a. [L. variabilis: cf. F. variable.]
Having the capacity of varying or changing; capable of alternation in any manner; changeable; as, variable winds or seasons; a variable quantity.
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Liable to vary; too susceptible of change; mutable; fickle; unsteady; inconstant; as, the affections of men are variable; passions are variable.
Lest that thy love prove likewise variable.
--Shak.His heart, I know, how variable and vain!
--Milton.Variable exhaust (Steam Eng.), a blast pipe with an adjustable opening.
Variable quantity (Math.), a variable.
Variable stars (Astron.), fixed stars which vary in their brightness, usually in more or less uniform periods.
Syn: Changeable; mutable; fickle; wavering; unsteady; versatile; inconstant.
Wiktionary
n. (plural of variable star English)
Usage examples of "variable stars".
But the Small Cloud has been more extensively studied for some years, particularly its Cepheid variable stars.
To test the distance of the spiral nebula a class of intrinsically much brighter variable stars was needed to furnish a new standard candle.
Kit, will you check with the planetographers of Klovia as to the variable stars anywhere near where you want them, and how many planets they've got?
The American astronomer Edwin Hubble had recently developed a new method for measuring galactic distances using the known brightnesses of certain peculiar variable stars, and along with his assistant, Milton Humason, conducted a systematic review of the data using the 60-inch telescope at the Mount Wilson Observatory in California, and later the 100-inch—.
In 1912, Henrietta Leavitt (1868-1921), then working at Harvard University under Edward Pickering, was studying a class of variable stars called Cepheids, named after their prototype, delta Cephei, in the constellation of Cepheus the King.
When they weren't speechless with joy over parallax shifts, they were mesmerized by the fluctuations of variable stars, or the slow orbits of a few easily resolved binaries.
Pulsations from variable stars washed through nebulae of varying density, and synchronized pulsars played a part in creating cyclic changes with a period of hours.
We were most fortunate that a human research vessel studying variable stars happened to be near enough to detect unusually strong long-range transmissions.