R Muscae

R Muscae

Hubble Space Telescope image of R Muscae
Observation data
Epoch J2000      Equinox J2000
Constellation Musca
Right ascension 12h 42m 05.02561s
Declination −69° 24 27.1966
Apparent magnitude (V) 5.93 - 6.73
Characteristics
Spectral type F7 Ib - G2
B−V color index 0.750±0.020
Variable type δ Cep
Astrometry
Radial velocity (Rv)+3.8±2.9 km/s
Proper motion (μ) RA: −4.180 mas/yr
Dec.: −2.127 mas/yr
Parallax (π)1.0002±0.0291 mas
Distance3,260 ± 90 ly
(1,000 ± 30 pc)
Absolute magnitude (MV)-3.62
Details
Radius65 R
Luminosity2,541 L
Surface gravity (log g)2.0±0.1 cgs
Temperature5,985±54 K
Metallicity [Fe/H]+0.10±0.05 dex
Other designations
R Mus, AAVSO 1236-68, CD−68°1119, HD 110311, HIP 61981, HR 4820, SAO 251996
Database references
SIMBADdata

R Muscae is a yellow-white hued variable star in the southern constellation of Musca. It has a nominal apparent visual magnitude of 6.31, which is near the lower limit of visibility to the naked eye. The distance to this star, as determined from its annual parallax shift of 1.00 mas, is around 3,260 light years.

This is an F-type supergiant star with a baseline stellar classification of F7 Ib. It is a Classical Cepheid variable ranging from apparent magnitude 5.93 to 6.73 over 7.51 days, while varying between spectral types F7 Ib and G2. The star was suspected of having a detectable companion, but this finding was later disputed. Gaia and HST observations have shown that there is a companion, a 15th-magnitude star 7 away. There is an X-ray source with a luminosity of 6.3×1029 erg s−1 located at an angular separation of 1.9 from R Muscae.