#mu cephei

[the-wolf-and-moon]

Mu Cephei, Herschel's Garnet Star

[spacewonder19]

Mu Cephei: Herschel's Garnet Star ©

[quiltofstars]

The constellation of Cepheus, the King // Markus Selbach

Click below to see an annotated image and some info about the stars that make up Cepheus.

In order of brightness:

Alderamin (α Cephei) is a blue-white giant star about 49 light years from Earth. It was once the northern pole star in about 19,000 BC and will return to being the pole star between 7,500 and 8,700 AD. Its name comes from Arabic phrase al-dhirā‘ al-yamīn meaning "the right arm."

Errai (γ Cephei) is a binary star consisting of a red giant and red dwarf about 45 light years from Earth. Errai will succeed Polaris as the pole star around 3157 AD. The name comes from the Arabic word ar-rā‘ī meaning "the shepherd."

Alfirk (β Cephei) is a triple star system with the primary star being a blue giant star. The entire system is about 690 light years away. Just like the last two stars, Alfirk will one day be a pole star, between 5200 and 7500 AD. The name comes from the Arabic word al-firqah meaning "the flock."

ζ Cephei is a red supergiant star about 993 light years from Earth.

ι Cephei is an orange giant star about 115 light years from Earth.

The Garnet Star (μ Cephei) is a red hypergiant star about 2,500 light years from Earth. It has a size almost 1,000 times that of our Sun! Its name comes from William Herschel's observations of it, where he described it as "a very fine deep garnet colour."

Kurhah (ξ Cephei) is a triple star system about 102 light years from Earth. It consists of three blue-white giant stars. The name comes from the Arabic word al-qurhah meaning "a white spot in the face of a horse."

[shaythempronouns]

The Elephant Trunk Nebula and Mu Cephei (SHO)

The Elephant Trunk Nebula is a colossal emission nebula in the Cepheus constellation, named for the curled structure at its center (visible in the bottom left of this image) that resembles an elephant's trunk.

In this mosaic composed of two side-by-side frames, I chose to take a stretched look at the incredible color variance and complex cloud structures visible as you move toward the nebula's edge, as well as the distinct garnet color of its brightest companion star, Mu Cephei. Shot at a focal length of 600mm with a 150mm aperture Newtonian telescope and a ZWO ASI533MM Pro camera, using 7nm bandpass narrowband filters to capture the light emitted from the ionized gases in the nebula.

Each color channel in each panel is integrated from 24 separate 10-minute exposures for a total of 24 hours of integration time.

[neptunedestiny]

Red Hypergiant Stars

Stephenson 2-18 is bigger than UY Scuti.

[phoenix-flight-explorers]

The 'Across the Universe' is slowly advancing back to civilization after a journey out to the Bubble Nebula...

Passing Mu Cephei, one of the largest known stars, at over 1,000 times the radius of Sol...

Were it placed in the Sun's position, it would reach between the orbit of Jupiter and Saturn...

Mu Cephei is nearing death, fusing helium into carbon; when it converts elements in its core to iron, its core will collapse, producing a supernova, leaving behind a vast gaseous cloud and a black hole where this massive star once was

[quiltofstars]

Herschel's Garnet Star, μ Cephei, also known as Erakis // Bruno Bzeznik

[quiltofstars]

Herschel's Garnet Star (μ Cephei, lower left) at the edge of the Elephant's Trunk Nebula (IC 1396) // Marty Butley

Herschel's Garnet Star (μ Cephei) is a red hypergiant star about 2,500 light years from Earth. It is truly gargantuan, clocking in at about 1,000 times the size of the Sun! Its name comes from William Herschel (1738-1822) who described it as "a very fine deep garnet color" and made observations of its variability.