Star profile
Mu Persei
Highly luminous starWhat is Mu Persei
Mu Persei, 51 Persei, is a yellow supergiant about 53 solar radii across, shining with more than 2,000 times the Sun's light at 901 light-years. It does not travel alone: a B9 blue companion orbits it every 284 days along a nearly circular path. The light arriving tonight left the atmosphere of that pair in the twelfth century, before the great Castilian chronicles were written.
Where it is and when to see it
Mu Persei lies in the northern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is December, when it culminates around midnight.
- From London it never sets and culminates about 87° up.
- From New York it culminates about 82° above the horizon.
- From Sydney it culminates about 8° above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere north of 42° S.
It ranks no. 18 in brightness among the 99 stars of Perseus in our catalogue. To find it, start from Mirfak, the brightest: it lies about 8° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 900 years ago.
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Astronomical data for Mu Persei
- Constellation
- Perseus
- Apparent magnitude
- 4.12
- Distance
- 901.1 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 63.724° · Dec 48.409°
- Catalogue
- HIP 19812 · HD 26630
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Other stars in Perseus
Perseus has 99 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- MirfakAlpha Persei1.79
- AlgolBeta Persei2.09
- Zeta Persei2.84
- Phi Persei4.01
- Iota Persei4.05
- Theta Persei4.10
- 16 Persei4.22
- Lambda Persei4.25