Zeta Geminorum - Observation History

Observation History

In 1825, German astronomer Julius Schmidt discovered that this star varies in brightness with a period of about 10 days, although it had been suspected of variability as early as 1790. In 1899, American astronomer W. W. Campbell announced that Zeta Geminorum has a variable radial velocity. (This variation was independently discovered by Russian astronomer Aristarkh Belopolsky, published in 1901.) Based on his observations, Campbell later published orbital elements for the binary. However, he found that the curve departed from a keplerian orbit and even suggested that it was a triple star system in order to explain the irregularities. The periodic variation in radial velocity was subsequently explained as the result of radial pulsations that occur in a class of variable stars known as Cepheid variables—named after Delta Cephei.

The periodicity of the star is itself variable, a trend first noted by German astronomer Paul Guthnick in 1920, who suspected that the period change was the result of an orbiting companion. In 1930, Danish astronomer Axel Nielsen suggested that the change was instead the result in a steady decrease of about 3.6 seconds per year in the period.