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RU Virginis

The Mira variables exhibit some of the most dramatic behavior of all variable stars. For just that reason, they were among the earliest variable stars discovered and followed by astronomers trying to understand how our universe works. Four centuries after their discovery, the Mira variables remain one of the most challenging variable star classes to understand. All Miras are dying stars, soon to shed most of their mass, leaving only a white dwarf behind.

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R Hydrae

Once, Twice, Three Times a Variable Star!

A page from Hevelius' 1690 Uranographia star atlas, which shows the then unknown variable, R Hya, to be a faint star in the tail of Hydra.
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R Leonis

Flexing Some Variable Star Muscle

R Leonis boldly boasts to be one the brightest and easiest to observe variable stars in the sky. With a mean visual magnitude range of 5.8 to 10.0, this mighty star can easily be seen without the aid of any costly equipment. As such, R Leo is a favored candidate for new variable star observers and is even cited in the AAVSO list of Stars Easy to Observe.

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