little red star near beta crux

[Nortilus]

Ok, given up trying to find the name of the star. It is a little red star near beta crux. You can;t see it with the nude eye but through my 8" Dob it is there. You don;t really notice it unless you are looking for it but in a 12.5mm EP it should be in the same FOV as beta crux. I hope one of you knows which this is.

[beren]

you can find a few pics here http://www.asnsw.com/photos/astrophotographer/mxl.htm

Plus Mick made a report of it here to http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=2084

DY Crucis ESB 365 is its ID.

[atalas]

Hi Nortilis,yes that's a beautiful carbon star,It spuse out more minerals than the earth has every year! don't no the name but some of the guy's here do, so you should here from them soon.

Louie :)

[Greg Bryant]

Hi Nortilus,

The red star near Beta Crucis is now known as DY Crucis (a fairly recent designation which acknowledges that it is a variable). It has a general magnitude of 8.9 and is one of the reddest stars we can easily see.

Also known by an older catalogue listing as Espin-Birmingham 365, it has a popular nickname, at least here in Australia, of "Ruby Crucis".

If you'd like to hunt down other red stars, here's a listing of some of them, prepared by US astronomer Brian Skiff.

ftp://ftp.lowell.edu/pub/bas/starcats/bsa.red

Coloured stars are great fun to observe!

[Nortilus]

thx everyone. oh and that photo mick put in his post that is listed above. that is my little scope. the one in the front. Mick couldn;t remember the name of it on the night and i wanted to know it's name. But maybe i should read some more post next time :)

[cometcatcher]

I suspect I'll remember "Ruby Crusis" better than DY Crusis. :)

[Mick]

Welcome back Nortilus, Carbon stars are cool:) glad you had a go at hunting it down at home. here is a link to some carbon stars brighter than magnitude 8.5 if you're game:)
Carbon Star List (http://www.belmontnc.4dw.net/carbonstar.htm)

[gaa_ian]

A real little Gem !
Just had a look at it tonight, I does really jump out at you once you look past the glare of B Crux :thumbsup:

[chunkylad]

Does anyone know if Beta Crux and 'Ruby' Crux are a gravitationally bound pair???

[mickoking]

DY Crucis, I have often wonderd what that little red star's name was, cheers:drink:

[chunkylad]

FWIW, it appears that Mimosa (Beta Crucis) is a double star, but its partner is not DY Crucis. See:http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/mimosa.html

Cheers

[Starkler]

Checked it out tonight. A lovely deep copper colour :)