Shell star variables. Pleione and Gamma Cassiopeiae itself are both variable stars that have intermittent shell episodes where strong shell features appear in the spectrum and the brightness increases or decreases significantly. At other times the shell is not detectable in the spectrum, and even the emission lines may disappear. Shell star A shell star is a star having a spectrum that shows extremely broad absorption lines, plus some very narrow absorption lines. They typically also show some emission lines, usually from the Balmer series but occasionally of other lines. The broad absorption lines are due to rapid rotation of the photosphere,
Kira (given name) Kira (given name) Kira is a mostly feminine name of multiple origins and meanings. The feminine form is pronounced or . It might be a feminine form of the name Kiran, pronounced . Kiran is of Hindi and Sanskrit origin, meaning "beam of light". Besides Sanskrit, there might be other etymologies from Egyptian, where the word Ki-Ra means "like Ra", or Persian. Due to the Greek interpretation of the Persian king's name Kourosh (کوروش, "Kūrosh") as Κύρος ("Kýros") – which was obviously modeled after the Greek word κύριος ("kýrios" "lord"), the feminine form being κυρία ("kyría") – Kyra (or Kira)