HD 5980
Wolf-Rayet + blue-variable system · RMC 14 · SMC WR5
A rare Wolf-Rayet and blue-variable pair that erupted in 1994
One of the brightest stellar systems in the Small Magellanic Cloud: a rare pairing of a Wolf-Rayet star with a luminous blue variable that erupted in 1994, briefly flaring like a supernova impostor before settling back down.
Illustration generated from temperature, not a photograph
61.0 ☉
mass (the Sun = 1)
2.2 million ×
as bright as the Sun
45,000 K
surface · blue
24 R☉
radius (the Sun = 1)
200,000 ly
from Earth
It pours out about 2.2 million times the Sun’s light. Its light has been travelling 200,000 years to reach us, so you see HD 5980 as it was 200,000 years ago.
Source · Koenigsberger et al. 2014, AJ 148, 62 · View on Wikidata
It lives in
Small Magellanic Cloud
Irregular galaxy, 200,000 ly away.
Other notable stars in Small Magellanic Cloud
Stars of similar brightness
HD 269810O-type giant (O2 III)2.2 million ×Melnick 34Wolf-Rayet binary (WN5h + WN5h)2.0 million ×VFTS 682Wolf-Rayet star (WN5h)3.2 million ×Melnick 42O-type supergiant (O2 If)3.6 million ×Eta CarinaeLuminous blue variable4.0 million ×S DoradusLuminous blue variable1.0 million ×
Worlds in the same direction on the sky→