Steve’s Virtual Planet

Hind’s Crimson Star

Really colorful stars are popular during outreach events. They typically get some good reactions due to their uncommon nature. Some are well know but others are also worth checking out and adding to your repertoire.

In the Winter time, one good telescopic target is Hind’s Crimson Star. Otherwise know as R Leporis, it is a Mira type variable star in the constellation Lepus, the Hare. It’s claim to fame is it’s gorgeous red color, hence it’s nick name. It’s one of several so-called carbon stars, which all have this characteristic deep color. It’s color comes from an effect whereby the star’s light is filtered by carbon in the star’s atmosphere, and its more pronounced when the star is at it’s dimmest.

It’s close to the border with Eridanus and almost exactly at 5 hours RA. It can be found by referencing stars close by in Orion. Draw a line from Mintaka, the right most star in Orion’s belt, through Rigel, and go almost the same distance. The magnitude varies (it’s a variable!) from 5.5 down to 11.7, so you may want to further investigate it 427 day period before you go off hunting. My Fernbank colleagues and I were so impressed by it’s color, we gave this beauty our own nickname - Heinz Ketchup Star!

For more details and some tips on getting the best from this colorful target, check out the additional links on the Wikipedia page.