Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2023 October 12 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. Mu Cephei Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]David Cruz Explanation: [5]Mu Cephei is a very large star. An M-class supergiant some 1500 times the size of the Sun, it is one of the largest stars visible to the unaided eye, and even one of the largest in the entire Galaxy. If it replaced the Sun in [6]our fair Solar System, Mu Cephei would easily engulf Mars and Jupiter. Historically known as [7]Herschel's Garnet Star, Mu Cephei is extremely red. Approximately 2800 light-years distant, the supergiant is seen near the edge of reddish emission nebula [8]IC 1396 toward the royal northern constellation Cepheus in [9]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. [10]A well-studied variable star understood to be in a late phase of stellar evolution, Mu Cephei is a massive star too, [11]destined to ultimately explode as a core-collapse [12]supernova. APOD editor to speak: [13]in Houghton, Michigan tonight, Thursday, October 12, at 6 pm Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space __________________________________________________________________ [14]< | [15]Archive | [16]Submissions | [17]Index | [18]Search | [19]Calendar | [20]RSS | [21]Education | [22]About APOD | [23]Discuss | [24]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [25]Robert Nemiroff ([26]MTU) & [27]Jerry Bonnell ([28]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [29]Specific rights apply. [30]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [31]ASD at [32]NASA / [33]GSFC, [34]NASA Science Activation & [35]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2310/MuCephei_apod.jpg 3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 4. https://www.instagram.com/astro.midnight/ 5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mu_Cephei 6. https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/ 7. http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/garnet.html 8. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120805.html 9. https://www.instagram.com/p/CyN-h9SoIeO/ 10. https://www.aavso.org/vsots_mucep 11. https://arxiv.org/abs/1410.8721 12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap231011.html 13. https://www.facebook.com/events/3492928810970281 14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap231011.html 15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 18. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 23. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=231012 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap231013.html 25. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 26. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 27. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 28. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 30. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 31. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 32. https://www.nasa.gov/ 33. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 34. https://science.nasa.gov/learners 35. http://www.mtu.edu/