Astronomy Picture of the Day . ... When last questioned, the daughter seemed to indicate that the hullabaloo might have come from a planetary system possibly sounding like "Omicron Ceti". ... Humorously, the parent star Omicron Ceti now shows itself to be unstable and is dramatically increasing its brightness. Happy April Fool's Day from the folks at APOD . In actuality, the star being pointed out is Mira , a famous variable star expected to reach its maximum brightness again in late August. ...