Skytools 3 view of the carbon star, DY Cru (feint red dot) with 10" Dobsonian and 10mm eyepiece.
DY Cru. The little red dot that could!At the 2016 Free State Star Party Johan Smit (ASSA Pretoria) "exposed" us to a feint red dot in the constellation of Crux.
Most observers use beta Crucis as a beacon to find nearby NGC 4755, the ‘Jewel Box’ (Kappa Crucis Cluster, NGC 4755, Caldwell 94).
Therefore we miss out on this ruby of the 9th magnitude carbon star within its glow. Nicknamed 'Ruby Crucis. (aka DY Cru, NSV 19481, CCCS 2031, EsB 365)
From ICEINSPACE
little red star near beta crux
"Ok, given up trying to find the name of the star. It is a little red
star near beta crux. You can;t see it with the nude eye but through my
8" Dob it is there. You don;t really notice it unless you are looking
for it but in a 12.5mm EP it should be in the same FOV as beta crux. I
hope one of you knows which this is."
Go and find it...
Links to explore this little red gem and other carbon stars
- Chris Forder's Star
- AAVSO light curve for DY Cru
- Carbon Stars Will Make You See Red
- Carbon Star Observing Program (www.astroleague.org)
- Mimosa or Beta Crux and EsB 365/DY Crucis
- The RASC Calgary Centre - The Reddest Stars in the Sky
- Tour the sky; s reddest stars
- Beta Crucis
- The brightest "very red" stars (Brian Skiff's list of very red stars)
- Carbon Star (Wikipedia)
