red variables

The large group of variable stars, including Mira stars and irregular variables, that lie in the top right of the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram of pulsating variables.

Collins Dictionary of Astronomy © Market House Books Ltd, 2006

Mentioned in

Lepus

References in periodicals archive

One of the red variables should even be in binocular view during July.

Three blood drops on the Swan's wing

Like all long-period red variables, Mira is shedding a lot of material into space: an Earth mass about every eight years.

Mira's marvelous tail: an old friend in the evening sky has left a bigger mark than anyone knew

(This doesn't include novae or supernovae, which occasionally reach naked-eye brightness.) Among these stars are many eclipsing binaries, Cepheid variables, and semiregular red variables, as well as a few long-period stars of the Mira type and the recurrent nova T Coronae Borealis.

The top 12 naked-eye variable stars

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