Hind’s Crimson Star

Hind’s Crimson Star also known more formally as R Leporis

Hind’s Crimson Star is named for British astronomer J.R. Hind who observed the star in 1845. It’s a carbon rich star and one of the most red in the night sky. Located about 1,350 light years away it’s fairly close in cosmic terms and well within our own galaxy. It’s also a variable star and fluctuates between magnitude +5.5 to +11.7 over a 427 day period. This image was captured in early February, 2023 and shows it at roughly magnitude +8.

You may want to spend some time exploring the annotations. It’s surprising how many distant galaxies are lurking in the far off universe well beyond our own Milky Way Galaxy. They’re designated by their Principal Galaxy Catalogue (PGC) numbers.