Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Cepheus (Cep)  ·  Contains:  Erakis (μ Cep)  ·  The star The Garnet Star
Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
Mu Cephei Stellar Portrait, Szoomer
Powered byPixInsight

Mu Cephei Stellar Portrait

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
Mu Cephei Stellar Portrait, Szoomer
Powered byPixInsight

Mu Cephei Stellar Portrait

Equipment

Loading...

Acquisition details

Loading...

Description

Mu Cephei, also known as Erakis and Herschel's Garnet Star, is a red supergiant.  It is located near the edge of the Elephant's Trunk Nebula.  It is one of the largest stars known to exist and has a radius of over 1000 times that of the sun.  It is so large that were it placed into the position of our Sun, it would engulf the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.  Erakis is one of the most luminous supergiants in the Milky Way, and is nearly 100,000 times brighter than the Sun.

Comments

Sky plot

Sky plot

Histogram

Mu Cephei Stellar Portrait, Szoomer