legends · 4 min read ·
Variable Star
An astronomical society's newsletter reports a variable star blinking out the names of every member since 1921.
**Fenwick Astronomical Society — Newsletter, October**
**Observing Section report (J. Pryor, Section Leader)**
Several members have reported a variable star in Cassiopeia, near the edge of the chart for our standard fields. The star is catalogued as an eclipsing binary with a period of 3.18 days. Its magnitude should vary between 9.2 and 10.4.
Over the past fortnight, three observers have recorded unusual behaviour: rapid brightness changes on a timescale of seconds, between magnitudes 8 and 11. The pattern appears to be in pulses.
· · ·
**Observer's report (Ms. T. Okonkwo, 11 October)**
I observed the star at 21:30 with a 200 mm Dobsonian, using a photometer. The brightness changed in a series of short and long pulses. Short, short, long, short. A pause. Long, long, short. A pause. The pattern repeated every four minutes. I recorded 60 minutes of light curve.
I am a retired telegraphist. The pattern is Morse code.
· · ·
**Observing Section report (J. Pryor, 12 October)**
Ms. Okonkwo's report is interesting. A natural variable cannot produce a code. We have considered whether the pulses may be an artefact: scintillation, a satellite, an atmospheric effect, a fault in the photometer. Three other members have confirmed the variability using different equipment.
Ms. Okonkwo has decoded the message. It is a list of names. First names, and a place. We will not print the text here.
· · ·
**Observer's report (Mr. D. Hale, 14 October)**
I decoded my own record, taken independently of Ms. Okonkwo's. The names are the same. Fifty-four, in a cycle of fifty-four. I recognise six of them. They are members of this society.
The list includes Ms. Okonkwo's own name. It includes mine.
The place name that follows each name is the name of a village within thirty miles of here. In my case, it is Dunmere, where I live.
· · ·
**Observing Section report (J. Pryor, 16 October)**
Several members have asked whether the names are those of the people who have seen the message. We have checked. The list is not the list of the observers. It is a list of everyone who has ever been a member of the Society since its foundation in 1921. The first name is that of the founder, Sir Alfred Hallam, who died in 1944. The last name is that of a member who joined this month.
The list is chronological. It is updated. The next name has not yet been sent.
· · ·
**Observer's report (Ms. T. Okonkwo, 19 October)**
The sequence has changed. It no longer cycles through the list. It repeats a single name, very slowly, with the long gaps of a signal that is not expecting an answer.
The name is "Pryor."
I rang Mr. Pryor. There was no reply. I have since learned that Mr. Pryor was taken ill on the night of the 18th and is in hospital.
· · ·
**Observing Section report (D. Hale, acting leader, 23 October)**
Mr. Pryor died on the 20th. The Society sends its condolences to his family.
I have kept watch on the star. The signal continues. It has moved on to the next name in the list, which is mine.
I attended the funeral. After the service, Ms. Okonkwo told me that she had decided to stop observing. She said she had decoded the last line of the cycle. It is not a name. It is a sentence. It is repeated at the end of the list, once, as a sign-off.
· · ·
**Correction (Fenwick Astronomical Society Newsletter, 30 October)**
*In the October newsletter, the Observing Section report stated that the signal was in Morse code. This is incorrect. The signal is not Morse. It is a record of members' names, followed by a closing sentence, in a code the Society has not been able to identify.*
*The Observing Section also stated that the signal contained 54 names. It contains 55. The additional name was appended on 29 October.*
*The Society regrets that the closing sentence of the signal has been mistranslated by two members, one of whom has since died. The correct translation is:*
*"Thank you for watching. You are on the list."*
*The Society would like to thank Mr. D. Hale, who edited this newsletter, and whose name does not appear at the end of it.*