mira

name

1. A binary star in the constellation Cetus, Omicron (ο) Ceti. The system contains a variable red giant and a white dwarf. Its brightness varies from a magnitude 2 at its brightest to a magnitude 10 at its dimmest.

   “The favoured explanation, adopted by Maraldi, was based on the assumption that the star was rotating and composed of two different parts, a bright and a dark region; if so, it might only be visible when the bright region turned towards Earth. Whatever the explanation, Mira had puzzled the astronomers because of its random character and the irregular periods between its observations.”

2. Mirabai, a 16th-century Indian poetess.
3. (broadly)A female given name from India.

   “Dorothy's daughters were of exceptional beauty and the sisters could complain only that the Hindi names Dorothy had chosen - Mira, Leela, Lena - were meant to pass as Western ones.”