HD 88366

S Carinae

The visual band light curve of S Carinae, from AAVSO data
Observation data
Epoch J2000.0      Equinox J2000.0
Constellation Carina
Right ascension 10h 09m 21.894s
Declination −61° 32 56.43
Apparent magnitude (V) 4.5 - 10.0
Characteristics
Evolutionary stage AGB
Spectral type K5e - M6e
U−B color index +0.93 to +1.93
B−V color index +1.43 to +2.60
Variable type Mira
Astrometry
Radial velocity (Rv)289.30 km/s
Proper motion (μ) RA: −94.237 mas/yr
Dec.: 76.811 mas/yr
Parallax (π)2.0110±0.0855 mas
Distance1,620 ± 70 ly
(500 ± 20 pc)
Absolute magnitude (MV)−0.71 to −3.41
Details
Mass0.6 M
Radius120 R
Luminosity2,200 L
Surface gravity (log g)−0.9 - 1.0 cgs
Temperature3,050 - 3,590 K
Other designations
HR 3999, HD 88366, CP−60°1701, HIP 49751, SAO 250840, GC 13971
Database references
SIMBADdata

S Carinae (HD 88366) is a variable star in the constellation Carina, approximately 1,620 light years from Earth.

S Carinae is an M-type red giant. Benjamin Apthorp Gould discovered the variable star, in 1871. It appeared with its variable star designation, S Carinae, in Annie Jump Cannon's 1907 work, Second Catalogue of Variable Stars. It is classified as a Mira type variable star and its brightness varies between magnitude +4.5 and +10.0 with a period of 149.49 days. When it is near its maximum brightness, it is visible to the naked eye. It has one of the earliest spectral types, and hence the hottest temperatures, of any Mira variable, and has a relatively short period for the class. The temperature of this pulsing star is highest at visual brightness maximum and lowest at visual brightness minimum.

S Carinae has exhausted its core hydrogen and expanded to become a red giant. It has also exhausted its core helium and evolved to the asymptotic giant branch, where it fuses hydrogen and helium in separate shells outside the core.