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S Cephei
Red Giant Star
| Right Ascension | 21h 35m 13s | Best Seen | all year |
| Declination | 78° 37' 28" | Magnitude | 7.4 - 12.9 |
| Constellation | Cepheus | ||
| Actual | Compared to Sun | |
| Distance | 1350 ly | -- |
| Actual Brightness | -- | -- |
| Surface Temperature | ~ 4,700 °F | ~ 0.50 |
| Diameter | -- | -- |
| Mass | -- | -- |
| Surface Gravity | -- | -- |
| Surface Composition (by mass) | 74% hydrogen 24% helium 2% everything else |
same |
| Spectral Type | C6 II | G2 V |
| Density (gram/cubic cm) | -- | -- |
What To Look For Through The Telescope
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Recommended eyepiece: 24mm or 40 mm.
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When people look through the telescope a bright reddish-orange point of light should be seen.
S Cephei Information:
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S Cephei is a C type star – a “carbon” star. Carbon stars are stars with more carbon in them than other stars.
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This star is called a red giant star, which means it’s left the main sequence and is approaching the end of its life.
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S Cephei, like many red giant stars, is a variable star. Its magnitude varies from 7.4 to 12.9 over a period of nearly 490 days because the star is actually swelling and then contracting.
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References
| Item | Updated | Notes |
| Coordinates | 2003-09-12 | checks with both SIMBAD and Hipparcos |
| Distance | 2003-09-19 | SIMBAD and Hipparcos give 2.41 mas parallax |
| Actual Brightness | -- | |
| Surface Temperature | 2003-09-19 | from The Flamsteed Collection, C stars range from 2400-3500 K; going with Hipparcos’ type C6, then estimating temp at 2840 K |
| Diameter | -- | |
| Mass | -- | |
| Surface Gravity | -- | |
| Surface Composition | 2003-09-12 | OK for all stars |
| Spectral Type | 2003-12-05 | SIMBAD says “C II...” while Hipparcos says “C6 II” I’m going with Hipparcos |
| Density | –- | |
| Other Information | 2003-09-19 | variation info from http://www.dibonsmith.com/cep_con.htm |