Talk:Algol - Misplaced Pages

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Algol has been listed as one of the Natural sciences good articles under the good article criteria. If you can improve it further, please do so. If it no longer meets these criteria, you can reassess it.

Article milestones
Date	Process	Result
July 31, 2006	Good article nominee	Listed
March 2, 2009	Good article reassessment	Kept

Current status: Good article

Astronomy: Astronomical objects GA‑class High‑importance

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Algol

Is the star system really younger than 300 million years as suggested by the box? That seems pretty young.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 12.24.60.12 (talk • contribs).

Yes. Massive B-class stars have a main sequence life span of 11-400 million years. — RJH (talk) 21:53, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

Demon star

Demon Star redirects here, perhaps an explanation of this could be made in the article? Miremare 17:38, 2 November 2007 (UTC)

It seems that the nick name of the the star is "Demon star".--207.68.235.128 (talk) 18:24, 29 July 2009 (UTC)

Weird

the chilmead material which I guess Allen read. Nice to get one step further down the source-line. cheers, Casliber (talk · contribs) 10:15, 21 December 2007 (UTC)

GA Sweeps Review: Pass

As part of the WikiProject Good Articles, we're doing sweeps to go over all of the current GAs and see if they still meet the GA criteria. I'm specifically going over all of the "Planets and Moons" articles. I believe the article currently meets the criteria and should remain listed as a Good article. I have made several minor corrections throughout the article. In addition I removed the movie poster lacking a fair use rationale for use in this article. I also removed the unsourced mentions in popular culture, and listed them below. If sources can be found then they can be readded to the article. Rather than developing a list, try to convert the relevant information into prose. Altogether the article is well-written and is still in great shape after its passing in 2006. Continue to improve the article making sure all new information is properly sourced and neutral. I would recommend going through all of the citations and updating the access dates and fixing any dead links. If you have any questions, let me know on my talk page and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. I have updated the article history to reflect this review. Happy editing! --Nehrams2020 (talk) 01:27, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

Unsourced information

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy mentions Algol several times.
The sci-fi comedy book Bikini Planet features aliens from Algol. They are a feminist society and all have lizard-like features.
In the short story, Beyond the Wall of Sleep, by H. P. Lovecraft, a nova is mentioned as having taken place near Algol on February 22, 1901; this nova is, according to the story, the result of an epic space battle between two incorporeal beings, known in the story as the 'entity' and the 'oppressor.'
In the Sega video game series Phantasy Star I- IV, the star system which the series takes place in is called the Algol Solar System.
The PS3/XBOX360 fighting game Soul Calibur 4 features a character called Algol, likely named so for his binary nature.
Neptune Towers have released two music albums featuring Algol: Caravans to Empire Algol and Transmissions from Empire Algol. The music genre could be described as cosmic ambient.
In the MMORPG Final Fantasy XI, a rare sword is named Algol. It is dropped by the demon-hound Cerberus (the demonic dog with three heads).
Progressive/folk/Viking metal band Vintersorg's album Cosmic Genesis from 2000 contains a song called "Algol".
Ra's al Ghul is one of the supervillain character in the Batman Universe.
Dino Crisis 3 features an enemy named Algol. They are hammerheaded Velociraptors with the ability to shoot electricity and camoflauge themselves.

Error in Article

System contains the following: "Algol is 92.8 light years from Earth; however, about 7.3 million years ago it passed within 9.8 light years". If that was the case its travelled over 10 times the speed of light. I've checked the reference to get accurate information but it is subscription. Can someone please check and amend. Thanks.--94.194.237.87 (talk) 22:11, 25 October 2009 (UTC)

92.8 minus 9.8 LY = 83 LY travelled in 7.3 MILLION years implies a travel speed (with respect to the Solar system, presumably in a galactically-rotating frame of reference) of 0.00001137 LY/year, which is approximately 12271 km/hr. This is comparable to the orbital speed of the Earth with respect to the sun. Evidently a perfectly reasonable speed in celestial mechanics.(talk) 11:17, 22 February 2010)

What got me following these threads was the question : how long has the Earth been within / will the Earth remain in the region of Algol's sky where it appears as an eclipsing binary?(talk) 11:17, 22 February 2010 (UTC) (sorry, forgot to sign.)

Inclination terminology

It's odd that the inclinations of the two component pairs (A vs B and AB vs C) are given in different quadrants compared to the plane-of-the-sky (97degrees in one case ; 83 degrees in the other). This could mean that they've a 14degree difference between the planes of orbit (large, but not unprecedented within Sol), or that one of the components is orbiting in approximately the plane of the others, but retrograde. I'm also noting that the travel path implied elsewhere in the article is 6.04degrees to the line of sight (and therefore about 84 degrees to the plane of the sky in that direction). This could be an interesting coincidence, or it could mean that Algol has only just entered into it's period of being an eclipsing binary, or is just about to leave it. I don't have the geometry to work it out, and I'm pretty sure that the article doesn't have sufficient information to work it out. Yes, I know, "original research" ; but it's an interesting question, which may reflect on numerous other aspects of the article. Consider the implications to the most dismal of pseudosciences, astrology, if it turned out that Algol only started blinking at us at the time of the Trojan war. Aidan Karley (talk) 11:33, 22 February 2010 (UTC)

astrology?

Since this article is about the star, then is it normal there is also an astrology section? The astrology of Algol is covered in Behenian_fixed_stars, so it can be removed here. Any objections? MakeSense64 (talk) 13:05, 5 July 2011 (UTC)

Yes. mine. It is like any popular culture/cultural depictions section. I prefer to have them all at the topic, as that is what we are talking about. Casliber (talk · contribs) 13:21, 5 July 2011 (UTC)

OK. Going through all the Behenian Stars one can see that any astrological references are typically put under the 'Etymology and cultural significance' section, but without making a sub section for astrology. See Regulus, Capella_(star), Spica, Antares, Vega.

The only other star using an astrology section is Gamma_Corvi.

I think it would be better to use the same template for all these stars and just put any astrological references directly under 'Etymology and cultural significance'. What do you think? MakeSense64 (talk) 14:06, 5 July 2011 (UTC)

I agree entirely with Casliber. The astrological tradition associated with the star has had a significant impact upon historical and cultural associations. For that reason alone the astrological references hold merit. I have undone your changes which removed the astrological subheading and deleted the astrologically relevant external links. I think there should be a clear consensus before you delete the content because it is not to your personal liking. Zac Δ talk 20:02, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

It is only the unnecessary 'astrology' subheader that was removed, the information itself was retained. This brings it line with other articles about stars and is a perfectly sensible edit. Have reverted the changes. MakeSense64 (talk) 06:05, 7 July 2011 (UTC)

You may not have realised that you removed the relevant link, so I have restored that. As it stands the subheading works very well, with astrolgy forming a minor heading under 'Etymology and cultural significance'. If you are not happy can you create a case for change and get consensus before introducing it? Currently you don't have agreement from others that your proposed changes are prefered Zac Δ talk 06:21, 7 July 2011 (UTC)

This is first and foremost an article about astronomy, as is obvious to anybody who sees the page. Just because there is one sentence that mentions astrology of Algol in the context of cultural significance, does not mean that there have to be external links to pages about the astrology of Algol. If external astrology links are going to be added to astronomical articles about stars that have ever been used in astrology somewhere, then where is it going to stop? In the same way I removed the external link to a music band using Algol in its name, and it was a dead link anyway. The astrology related passage is properly sourced in the article, and that's enough. Have reverted the edit back. MakeSense64 (talk) 07:37, 7 July 2011 (UTC)

(outdent) I have invited other editors to comment: http://en.wikipedia.org/Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Astronomical_objects#Astrology.3F — Preceding unsigned comment added by MakeSense64 (talk • contribs) 09:34, 7 July 2011 (UTC)

Getting agreement before making changes is the way to go. Note that in reverting again, you have removed a subheading, a link, and the code which places the astronomical co-ordinates for the star at the top of the page. Therefore I shall undo this and suggest that you get consensus before making the edit again. The onus is on you to make your case before removing approved content that has been part of the page for 6 years. With regard to the disputed link (not the dead link which has now gone) this was originally added to the page in August 2005 with the description "Discusses the history of Algol". Diff It's a well researched, informative article concerning the cultural as well as astrological significance of Algol. The author has a Cambridge sicence degree and has worked as a teacher of physics. Where is it going to stop? Where common sense dictates. You seem to have a phobia about astrological references but they are hardly taking over the page here Zac Δ talk 11:19, 7 July 2011 (UTC)

That's 4 reverts within one day. I have issued you with a 3RR warning. Edit warring is not the way to resolve disagreements.

Let's see what other editors have to say about adding external links to astrology websites in articles that are under the scope of astronomy. MakeSense64 (talk) 13:06, 7 July 2011 (UTC)

Agreed - and note what the 3RRR policy says "Reverting to enforce certain overriding policies is not considered edit warring". I have given clear reasons for my reverts, to show that I am enforcing policy (and in the latter preserving necessary code). Zac Δ talk 13:45, 7 July 2011 (UTC)

Your edits had nothing to do with 'enforcing overriding policies'. Giving 'your' reasons for your reverts doesn't mean you can skip the 3RR rule. So in this case it is clearly edit warring. Better to stop it. MakeSense64 (talk) 14:25, 7 July 2011 (UTC)

I agree with the removal of the "skyscript" link, which is a mishmash of astrological nonsense and not appropriate for an encyclopedia, and the removal of the Astrology subheading, as it contains only two sentences, is not found in other articles on stars, and the text fits in just fine in that section. The sky coordinates should stay. I'm of mixed mind about the "cieloeterra" link, which discusses historical astrology, though is rather hard to read. I've removed the heading and link, but kept the coordinates. - Parejkoj (talk) 16:12, 7 July 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for contributing. The sky coordinates were deleted by mistake, so of course they should be put in. As for the "cieloeterra" link, I could not make sense of it either. Perhaps it should go as well. Maybe others will weigh in. MakeSense64 (talk) 16:30, 7 July 2011 (UTC)

I agree that the sub-heading was not essential at this stage for such a small section. Whether we believe that astrology is nonsense or inappropriate for an encyclopedia is irrelevant here. The article will be of interest to anyone who seeks to understand the historical context of this star and unless you can give a valid reason, I propose that the link should be reinstated. Robert Currey talk 16:41, 7 July 2011 (UTC)

Again, the change has been made before achieving consensus on an ongoing discussion. As many, in fact more editors have argued against the change as have supported it, and by taking the content off the page whilst it is under scrutiny, that makes it difficult for other editors to review and add opinion to this. So I would ask you or someone else to revert until proper consensus has been achieved. (If consensus is achieved, then I am happy to go along with it).

With regard to a ‘mishmash of astrological nonsense’ not being appropriate for an encyclopedia; as pointed out earlier the article was well researched and soundly supported by references; so it makes ideal follow up reference for readers who want to explore the astrological associations of the star.

Although this article falls within the scope of the Wiki Astronomy project, that does not mean it should exclude coverage of information that extends beyond the purely astronomical. The page is dedicated to the star Algol, and all information that directly relates to this star and its historical and contemporary use is appropriate for inclusion – especially since Algol has a very important and consistent astrological tradition attached to it, of interest to all sorts of researchers, historians and scholars, as well as modern day astrological enthusiasts. So whilst the astrological content is relatively limited as it stands, that should not mean that it is not a valid subject for discussion within the article; and whilst the astrological reference is so limited (as it stands) then it makes sense to at least offer an external link so that those wishing to can discover more about that. Zac Δ talk 16:47, 7 July 2011 (UTC)

That's why I'm not sure about removing the "cieloeterra" link: it's an overview of historical astrological commentary on Algol. The "skyscript" link has many references, yes, but that doesn't mean it is a good reference for Misplaced Pages. The references in it are to a combination of ordinary news reports, conspiracy theory websites and books, and other astrological webpages and books, along with a very few historical references. One might want to include it in a Misplaced Pages page about astrology (or, perhaps, in a page about humanity's desire to create causations out of correlations), but it does not belong on this page. - Parejkoj (talk) 18:33, 7 July 2011 (UTC)

Ok, that's fair enough. I'm more concerned about the principle of astrological references being omitted than an attachment to that particular link. The conspiracy theory element is where I would be inclined to agree with you. But I think there should be an astrological reference made available which suits the need of the general reader, as well as the cieloeterra one which is valuable as a translation of one historical text but does not give an overview of astrological details. What do you think of this, which offers a collection of details without any sense of emotive contribution from the author: Algol Zac Δ talk 18:47, 7 July 2011 (UTC)

If Algol is astrologically as important as Zachariel wants us to believe, then why is there such brief mention about it on Behenian Stars , an astrological article where Algol is covered alongside 14 related stars? Why push these external links about astrology onto the astronomy page, when there is an astrology article about this star? Just doesn't make sense.

Astronomy articles often have an 'etymology and cultural significance' section, but it is not given undue weight, because it remains an article about astronomy in the first place. The amount of scientific information about stars and planets is now typically much larger than the historical and astrological writings about it. Pushing astrology links into astronomy articles would be no different from insisting that alchemy websites have to be in the external links on certain pages about chemistry. Just because a webpage is 'interesting' is not a reason to include it. The internet is full with 'interesting' webpages, and that's what search engines are for. MakeSense64 (talk) 20:28, 7 July 2011 (UTC)

None of the other Behenian fixed stars pages have astrology external links, so I wouldn't support any such links on this page, other than purely historical ones. These pages are about astronomy, not astrology. If you want, you can add astrology links to Stars in astrology (which could use cleaning up anyway), and link it from here. That is what is used by, e.g., Sirius and Aldebaran. - Parejkoj (talk) 20:51, 7 July 2011 (UTC)

Makesense64, I do not want to persuade anyone to believe anything. Misplaced Pages is not interested in personal belief; its basis is verifiability through reliable sources, as you know. You say there is an astrological article about this star – where?

As I have said before, the focus of this article is not pure astronomy, but the star popularly known as Algol (from its Arabic name ‘the ghoul’). This article is not limited to covering only modern scientific information on the star: the question of why it has been considered ghoulish is of interest to an enquiring mind and suitable for inclusion on the page. There should be some expansion of the single astrological reference to its meaning that currently exists “Algol is considered the most unfortunate star in the sky”. Why? If an external link is considered inappropriate then I shall aim to provide some explanation of that within the main text – though I would remind you and Parejkoj that it remains the case that the changes were made without obtaining consensus. Zac Δ talk 23:29, 7 July 2011 (UTC)

I was directed here from a comment on the WikiProject Astrology page. The Behenian fixed star page is specifically designed to talk about the use of a certain set of fixed stars for magical purposes. Since the use of Algol was not restricted to magical purposes, I see no reason to restrict the discussion of its astrological usage to that page. Just because the article primarily discusses astronomical details of algol does not mean that some information about other cultural significance that it has cannot be mentioned as well. Additionally, I don't see why we would want to remove any well-sourced references which verify the statements made in the article. --Chris Brennan (talk) 04:08, 8 July 2011 (UTC)

Variability of Algol recognized before 1667?

The recent addition of astrologically related material on Algol contains claims which are in variance with the earlier statement that the variablility of Algol was first recognized in 1667 by Gemminiano Montanari. It is true that some have speculated that that Algol's variablility was known before the 17th century but this has never been proven conclusively.

Ancient star catalogues, such as those of Ptolemy and al-Sufi, never noted any variability and early 17th-century discussions on temporary stars (sparked by the 'new stars' of 1572, 1600 and 1604) never referred to Algol's supposed variability.

Accordingly, I think that the 2nd and 3rd paragraphs in the astrology section on Algol should be deleted as they are based on ill-based assumptions and secondary sources. AstroLynx (talk) 08:05, 8 July 2011 (UTC)

But actually it's not in variance to the earlier comment - which reads:

"The variability of Algol was first recorded in 1667 by Geminiano Montanari, but it is probable that this property was noticed long before this time."

Yes, but the second part of this claim is unsourced. It would be closer to the truth to write possible instead of probable.AstroLynx (talk) 10:23, 8 July 2011 (UTC)

I would say probable is accurate, but this could only be argued according to subjective opinion, which is not the best way to get to the truth. But if this concerned you why didn't you address that matter before I made reference to it in my reply to you? I'm not responsible for that comment.Zac Δ talk 11:07, 8 July 2011 (UTC)

Fair enough, I had not noticed this (in my opinion) misleading statement until yesterday. AstroLynx (talk) 11:37, 8 July 2011 (UTC)

So there you go - the article already mentions the probability that Montanari's is only the first known astronomical record of that variability: this is a testament to the way that official records tended not to catalogue variability before the 16th and 17th century when astronomy changed its theoretical basis and allowed the principle of its mechanism. Before that, astronomy was inhibited by Aristotelian principles, but it is well known that observed reality often contradicted with the ideal Aristotelian principles, hence the reason why medieval astronomy developed many 'minor' problems. What could be taught and what could be published in official records were two different things.

There was a lot of discussion on the variability of stars at the start of the 17th century (due to the 'new stars' of 1572, 1600 and 1604) and nobody (many of whom were very knowledgeable in ancient astrology) mentioned anything on the variablility of Algol. AstroLynx (talk) 10:23, 8 July 2011 (UTC)

This is one reason why knowledge of star names, such as this star being known as 'the Winking Demon' or 'the blinking eye of the Gorgon', shows how cultural awareness extended beyond tabulated astronomical information. The report makes clear that whether the variability was astronomically recorded or not, it was observed, and meaning was extrapolated from it. As you say, although some have speculated that that Algol's variablility was known before the 17th century, this has never been proven conclusively; but neither has it been disproven conclusively. However, I take your point about the necessity to tie the passage into what has previously been stated, so I have amended the passage to make that point clearer.

Name me one pre-17th century reference identifying Algol as 'the Winking Demon' or 'the blinking eye of the Gorgon'. I have only encountered such claims in the recent literature. AstroLynx (talk) 10:23, 8 July 2011 (UTC)

I suppose there is a time limit in which I would find it quite difficult to locate and trawl through all the world's pre-17th century references that exist on this topic, and even then my mind would be niggled with concern that I might have missed a manuscript or two. Fortunately, as a Misplaced Pages editor I don't need to do that kind of personal research. I refer to what is published in independent sources, recent or not. If you want to provide reference to a reliable published source that argues this was not the case, then the text can easily be ammended to accomodate that fact. Misplaced Pages aims to offer what is publicly known, or considered to be publicly known; it's purpose is not to publish yours or mine original research Zac Δ talk 11:06, 8 July 2011 (UTC)

I can save you the trouble - I have seen most of the pre-17th century literature on Algol (Babylonian, Greek/Roman, Chinese, Islamic and early European) and I never encountered such claims. Note b.t.w. that Allen (cited by you as a source) was very sceptical about claims that Algol derived its name (and fearful connotations) from a supposed ancient knowledge of its variability. AstroLynx (talk) 11:37, 8 July 2011 (UTC)

With regard to your comment that the 2nd and 3rd paragraphs "are based on ill-based assumptions and secondary sources" - there is nothing illogical or 'ill-based' about the assumptions, and the reader can be the judge of that. The passage presents substantiated details of value to researchers; who can then follow this up further if they wish. In fact secondary sources are not at all unsuitable for Misplaced Pages and these sources fall well within the remit of what Misplaced Pages considers reliable. Remember that the Misplaced Pages policy WP:V states "The threshold for inclusion in Misplaced Pages is verifiability, not truth — whether readers can check that material in Misplaced Pages has already been published by a reliable source, not whether editors think it is true". Sources for all relevant comments are given so that the reader can check these details and verify where they have been published and in what format. Regards, Zac Δ talk 09:38, 8 July 2011 (UTC)

Revert

I have reverted the latest edits because they are not minor edits and adding such a big section should not be done without concensus. It was clear from the recent discussion that User:Parejkoj and me are not in favor of adding more astrological content to this article. We have to adhere to WP:PSCI, which makes it clear that where science and pseudoscience are presented next to each other in an article (which can be for good reason), the pseudoscience part should not be made as big as to look equal in importance. That becomes a case of undue weight WP:UNDUE. It is for that reason that there are not rarely separate articles for the astrology of a planet or star. See for example Venus, where astrology is briefly mentioned, but for a more details about the astrology of Venus you have to go here: Planets in astrology, an article that is under the scope of Astrology. Just imagine how it would be if astronomers came to add their materials in an astrology article about a planet, that would not benefit any user of WP. Please consider that it will not be helpful for astrology articles if you go to war with the astronomy community on WP. MakeSense64 (talk) 16:31, 8 July 2011 (UTC) In the same way there is also a separate article for the mythology of Venus: Venus_(mythology) MakeSense64 (talk) 16:40, 8 July 2011 (UTC)

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