Red Supergiant Star Mu Cephei ("Erakis") in Cepheus

Red Supergiant Star Mu Cephei ("Erakis") in Cepheus

Mu Cephei is a very large star. An M-class supergiant about 1,500 times the size of the Sun, it is one of the largest stars visible to the unaided eye. It is even one of the largest in the entire Milky Way Galaxy. If it replaced the Sun in our Solar System, Mu Cephei would easily engulf Mars and Jupiter. Mu Cephei is visually nearly 100,000 times brighter than the Sun. Historically known as Herschel's Garnet Star, Mu Cephei is extremely red. Approximately 2,800 light-years distant, the supergiant is seen near the edge of reddish emission nebula IC 1396 toward the royal northern constellation Cepheus in this telescopic view. 

Much cooler and hence redder than the Sun, this supergiant's light is further reddened by absorption and scattering due to intervening dust within the Milky Way. A well-studied variable star understood to be in a late phase of stellar evolution, Mu Cephei is a massive star too, destined to ultimately explode as a core-collapse supernova.

Since 1943, the spectrum of this star has served as a spectral standard for classifying other stars.

Image Credit & Copyright: David Cruz

David's Instagram Page: https://www.instagram.com/astro.midnight/

Release Date: Oct. 12, 2023

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #Star #MuCephei #Erakis #HD206936 #IC1396 #Nebula #Cepheus #Constellation #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #Optical #Astrophotographer #DavidCruz #Astrophotography #UnitedStates #WilliamHerschel #Astronomer #History #STEM #Education #APoD