Big and Giant Stars: Rho Cassiopeiae (original) (raw)

One of the few known examples of a yellow hypergiant.
Rho Cassiopeiae (Rho Cas) is already visible with the naked eye. It is extremely unstable and every 50 years or so throws out parts of its hull. The last time this happened was in the year 2000. Assumedly the star is not far from exploding - the best known candidate for an imminent supernova.

Constellation: Cassiopeia
Distance: circa 10 000 light-years
Spectral class: F8
Visual magnitude: 4.51
Luminosity: 550 000 * Sun
Mass: 40 * Sun
Diameter: 450 * Sun

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Graphic: Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Lobel et al