Star hopping , three lovely stars.

[cotterless45]

Some simple star hopping with present three lovely stars. These are red, their appearance might be more subjective than described. I find " Hind's Crimson" to be spectacularly beautiful. De focussing may enhance the colour for you. If you get stuck , the RA and Dec are included , if you have good setting circles.

Canes Venatici, "La Superba" , I use this to test the quality of seeing,

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Superba

Just a triangle up from Chara. You'll find the bright galaxy M94 on the hypotenuse.

Cepheus, "The Garnet Star", at the base of Cepheus, straight on from Deneb.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mu_Cephei

Lepus, "Hind's Crimson Star", under Orion

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/R_Leporis,

Find it from Orion,

Just a bit different, not doubles or clusters , but quite famous red stars,

Nick.

[ronin]

I have a table of 22 Carbon Stars and another of 12 titled The Reddest Stars.

What I do not have is any idea where I got them from.

If I find the links I will post them in here - off the play with google.

May have come from the assorted Astro League Observing Programs.

OK, Not that one, their list is of 100 Carbon Stars, mine is 22.

[estwing]

Nice one Nick as you say a new twist... Traffic lights!!

[MAN or ASTROMAN]

Thanks for reminding me about 'La Superba', Nick. I already had the other two stars down on my observing list for-dare I hope that the forecast is correct?- tomorrow!

[RobertI]

Defocussing the star to enhance the colour is a great tip, not come across that one before, will give it a go.

[MattJenko]

This is all so depressing. So much to see, so many covered skies

[MattJenko]

I will certainly check these out. Weekend has the promise of clear skies. Thanks as always Nick, keep them coming.

[MAN or ASTROMAN]

Managed to see the above three stars,plus,as a bonus,CE aka 119 Tauri.This has been christened 'The Ruby Star' by A. Ahad.He is the originator of the 22 star list.I found it simply by googling 'the reddest stars'.I think that 119 Tauri must give Mu Cepheii a run for it's money,though of course,colour perception is a very subjective thing! Anyway.I thoroughly enjoyed observing these beautiful stars.   AND,I also saw 'The Christmas Tree' cluster in Monoceros for the first time tonight!

[DeepSkyBagger]

I used to make estimates of variable stars back in my long-ago, and Y Canum Venaticorum was on my list. It's a difficult object to estimate because of its deep red colour. Through a quirk of the human eye called the 'Purkinje Effect', stars of different colours register differently on the eye. This is most noticeable with red stars, which appear to grow brighter the longer you look at them. It was essential, therefore, to make the estimates of deep red stars like Y CVn as quickly as possible.

Our differing responses to light of different colours also explains why we use red lights at night - our eyes are less sensitive to red than to any other colour, and so this minimizes the effect that the light has on our dark adaptation.

[Special K]

Thanks for pointing these out, Nick, the reds are always hugely entertaining to observe. I've only seen the Garnet Star from your list but the others are nicely placed at this time.