1. By: Elaine Chumley Mu Cephei

2. Formation • Formed from exploded supernovas. • Gravity pulls the clouds of gas and dust together. • A collapsing cloud forms a hot core that’s what starts to develop a star

3. Herschel's Garnet Star • AKA: “Herschel’s Garnet Star" • deep red color; Red Giant • Most intensely colored stars ever recorded when viewed through a telescope

4. Herschel • Name honers: star's deep color and Sir William Herschel • Discovered planet Uranus 1781

5. Mu Cephei • 38,000 times brighter than the sun • Light years away • Absolute visual magnitude: -6.7

6. Constellation • Located in the constellation of Cepheus:

7. Comparisons • Larger than the sun • If it replaced our sun, it would extend as far to Jupiter or Saturn.

8. Location! Location! Location! • Largest to naked eye • Best viewed during August through January

9. One of the largest and brightest stars in the known galaxy. • Too far for a good parallax distance calculation. • Approx 2400 light years away.

10. Unstable and pulsates • Surrounded by warm water vapor • Shell of dust and gas

11. Death of Mu Cephei • Nearing end of life • Core is fusing helium to carbon • In a few million years the star will explode as a supernova • Stellarblack hole

12. Citations • http://www.windows2universe.org/the_universe/MuCephi.html • http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/garnet.html • SierraStarGazers.org • http://www.aavso.org/vsots_mucep