Mira
Red giant (pulsating variable) · Omicron Ceti
Prototype of the Mira (long-period) variables
A pulsating red giant nearing the end of its life, Mira swells and dims over roughly an 11-month cycle, becoming one of the brightest stars in the sky at maximum and nearly invisible to the naked eye at minimum. It trails a comet-like tail of shed gas spanning light-years.
Illustration generated from temperature, not a photograph
1.2 ☉
mass (the Sun = 1)
9 thousand ×
as bright as the Sun
3,000 K
surface · red
350 R☉
radius (the Sun = 1)
300 ly
from Earth
3.0
apparent magnitude
It pours out about 9 thousand times the Sun’s light. Its light has been travelling 300 years to reach us, so you see Mira as it was 300 years ago.
Source · View on Wikidata
It lives in
Milky Way
Barred spiral galaxy.
Other notable stars in Milky Way
Eta CarinaeLuminous blue variableAlnilamBlue supergiantVY Canis MajorisRed hypergiantAlnitakHot blue supergiantDenebBlue-white supergiantMintakaHot blue giant multiple star
Stars of similar brightness
BellatrixHot blue giant star6 thousand ×CanopusYellow-white bright giant13 thousand ×SpicaBlue giant (close binary)21 thousand ×MimosaBlue giant26 thousand ×AcruxBlue subgiant (multiple system)31 thousand ×HadarBlue giant32 thousand ×
Worlds in the same direction on the sky→