I'm

Oh Thank you. I'm going to Astronomycast, Episode 783, Cataclysmic Variable Stars. Welcome to Astronomycast, our weekly facts-based journey through the cosmos, where we help you understand not only what we know, but how we know what we know. I'm Fraser Kane. I'm the publisher of the University today with me, as always is Dr. Pamela Gay, a senior scientist for the Planetary Science Institute and the director of Cosmo Quest. Hey, Pamela, how you doing?

I am much less sniffly than I was. Last time we recorded. Yeah, better living through chemistry.

Yes. Yeah. So, Rich, you're my hero. There was so much sniffling that had to be removed from our last episode. I broke down. I got the actual Sudafed.

And thank you everyone who sent me well wishes over on Patreon.

That really meant the world to me.

My phone just kept going alert, alert.

And it made me happy while feeling miserable.

So thank you, everyone, for your kindness.

There are many types of variable stars.

Today, we're going to talk about cataclysmic variable stars, which are the result of a white

dwarf stealing material from a companion star.

And this whole process makes super villain Pamela happy.

It's true.

We'll talk about a second, but it's time for a break.

And we're back.

Yeah.

So I have anticipated here that we're going to talk about something, which that if you

were experiencing it would be a nightmare that just seemed to never end.

But from an outside observer, ooh, that star is getting brighter and dimmer.

And, oh, why it's

happening is very interesting. It's so cool. Uh-huh. And it involves relativity and

...