Quote:
Originally Posted by ngcles
Hi PGC & All,
Actually just on this I'm pretty sure (please corect me if wrong) but I don't think R Dor is a Carbon star either. It is a very cool and late spectral type Mira star but not a Carbon star. The Spectra is M8 III -- 'bout as cool as you can get in "normal" stars.
R Dor is as a matter of interest one of the brightest things in the sky in the near infra-red. If our eyes could see in either K or J band (1.6 and 2.2 mircometres respectively) R Dor would outshine nearly everything else. In these two bands it would be either the third or second brightest star in the sky at a whopping magnitude -2.6 (J-band) or mag -4.6 (K-band).  A little brighter than Venus at full-tilt.
Check out this table:
http://spider.ipac.caltech.edu/staff.../davystars.txt
To see the brightest stars in the sky in visual light, J and K-band. Very interesting indeed.
Of this list V Hydrae is probably the "best" -- as you have found. Except for Kapteyn's star (discussed previously) all are Mira or pseudo-Mira, or semi-regular type long-period variable stars.
So, you've taken the time to find these, why not then become a variable star observer while you're at it?
Best,
Les D |
G'day Les,
I had an inkling that Kaptyen's wasn't any form of red star as it didnt show any colour at all. I got these off a list from the Carbon Stars thread, so that's why I thought that these are actual carbon stars. That is an interesting link, it really makes our little ol' visiual wavelength look pathetic! The sky would be a mighty impressive sight in the K-band!
I'm not interested in variable stars, my forte is galaxies and planetary nebulae.
Is there a list of "real" carbon stars, i.e. stars that are actually red?
cheers