List of variable stars explained

, there are over 52,011 known variable stars,^[1] with more being discovered regularly, so a complete list of every single variable is impossible at this place (cf. GCVS). The following is a list of variable stars that are well-known, bright, significant, or otherwise interesting.

Designation (name)	Constellation	Discovery	Apparent magnitude (Maximum)^[2]	Apparent magnitude (Minimum)^[3]	Range of magnitude	Period	Type	Comment
R And	Andromeda		5^m.8	14^m.9		d	Mira variable (M)
S And (Supernova 1885)	Andromeda	Ernst Hartwig, August 20, 1885	5^m.8	16^m			Supernova (SNI)
U Ant	Antlia		8^m.1 (p)	9^m.7 (p)			LB
θ Aps	Apus		6^m.4 (p)	8^m.6 (p)		d	Semiregular (SRB)
η Aql	Aquila	Pigott, 1784	3^m.48	4^m.39		d	Classical Cepheid (DCEP)
R Aql	Aquila		5^m.5	12^m.0		d	Mira variable (M)
V Aql	Aquila		6^m.6	8^m.4		d	Semiregular (SRB)
R Aqr	Aquarius	Karl Ludwig Harding, 1810	5^m.8	12^m.4		d	Mira variable (M)
T Aqr	Aquarius		7^m.2	14^m.2		d	Mira variable (M)
U Ara	Ara		7^m.7	14^m.1		d	Mira variable (M)
R Ari	Aries		7^m.4	13^m.7		d	Mira variable (M)
U Ari	Aries		7^m.2	15^m.2		d	Mira variable (M)
ε Aur (Almaaz)	Auriga	Johann Heinrich Fritsch, 1821	2^m.92	3^m.83		27.08 years	Eclipsing binary Algol type (EA/GS)
R Aur	Auriga		6^m.7	13^m.9		d	Mira variable (M)
AE Aur	Auriga		5^m.78	6^m.08			Orion variable (INA)
R Boo	Boötes		6^m.2	13^m.1		d	Mira variable (M)
W Boo	Boötes		4^m.73	5^m.4		d	Semiregular (SRB:)
X Cam	Camelopardalis		7^m.4	14^m.2		d	Mira variable (M)
VZ Cam	Camelopardalis		4^m.80	4^m.96		d	Semiregular (SR)
R Cap	Capricornus	Hind, 1848	9^m.4	14^m.9		d	Mira variable (M)
η Car	Carina	Burchell, 1827	-0^m.8	7^m.9			S Doradus (SDOR)	"The unpredictable supergiant"
l Car	Carina		3^m.28	4^m.18		d	Classical Cepheid (DCEP)
R Car	Carina		3^m.9	10^m.5		d	Mira variable (M)
S Car	Carina		4^m.5	9^m.9		d	Mira variable (M)
γ Cas	Cassiopeia		1^m.6	3^m.0			Gamma Cassiopeiae (GCAS)
R Cas	Cassiopeia		4^m.7	13^m.5		d	Mira variable (M)
S Cas	Cassiopeia		7^m.9	16^m.1		d	Mira variable (M)
W Cas	Cassiopeia		7^m.8	12^m.5		d	Mira variable (M)
WZ Cas	Cassiopeia		6^m.3	8^m.5			Semiregular (SRB)	Visual double star, visible through binoculars
R Cen	Centaurus		5^m.3	11^m.8		d	Mira variable (M)
S Cen	Centaurus		9^m.2 (p)	10^m.7 (p)		d	Semiregular (SR)
T Cen	Centaurus		5^m.5	9^m.0		d	Semiregular (SRA)
V645 Cen (Proxima Centauri)	Centaurus		12^m.1 (B)	13^m.12 (B)			UV Ceti (UV)
δ Cep	Cepheus	John Goodricke, 1784	3^m.48	4^m.37		d	Classical Cepheid (DCEP) prototype	double star, visible in binoculars
Vega	Lyra		-0^m.02	0^m.07		d	Delta Scuti variable	Brightest variable star in the sky.
μ Cep (Herschel's Garnet Star)	Cepheus	William Herschel, 1782	3^m.43	5^m.1		d	Semiregular (SRC)
S Cep	Cepheus		7^m.4	12^m.9		d	Mira variable (M)
T Cep	Cepheus		5^m.2	11^m.3		d	Mira variable (M)
U Cep	Cepheus		6^m.75	9^m.24		d	Eclipsing binary Algol type (EA/SD)
SS Cep	Cepheus		8^m.0 (p)	9^m.1 (p)		d	Semiregular (SRB)
AR Cep	Cepheus		7^m.0	7^m.9			Semiregular (SRB)
ο Cet (Mira)	Cetus	David Fabricius, 1596; variability may have been first noted by Johannes Fokkes Holwarda, 1638	2^m.0	10^m.1		d	Mira variable (M)	"The miraculous" The first discovered non-ephemeral/cataclysmic variable star.
T Cet	Cetus		5^m.0	6^m.9		d	Semiregular (SRC)
U Cet	Cetus		6^m.8	13^m.4		d	Mira variable (M)
W Cet	Cetus		7^m.1	14^m.8		d	Mira variable (M)
R Cha	Chamaeleon		7^m.5	14^m.2		d	Mira variable (M)
R CMa	Canis Major		5^m.70	6^m.34		d	Eclipsing binary Algol type (EA/SD)
VY CMa	Canis Major		6^m.5	9^m.6			unique (*)
FW CMa	Canis Major		5^m.00	5^m.50			Gamma Cassiopeiae (GCAS)
S CMi	Canis Minor		6^m.6	13^m.2		d	Mira variable (M)
R Cnc	Cancer		6^m.07	11^m.8		d	Mira variable (M)
S Cnc	Cancer	Hind, 1848	8^m.29	10^m.25		d	Eclipsing binary Algol type (EA/DS)
T Cnc	Cancer	Hind, 1850	7^m.6	10^m.5		d	Semiregular (SRB)
X Cnc	Cancer		5^m.6	7^m.5		d	Semiregular (SRB)
T Col	Columba		6^m.6	12^m.7		d	Mira variable (M)
R Com	Coma Berenices		7^m.1	14^m.6		d	Mira variable (M)
α CrB (Alphecca or Gemma)	Corona Borealis		2^m.21 (B)	2^m.32 (B)		d	Eclipsing binary Algol type (EA/DM)
R CrB	Corona Borealis	Piggott, 1795	5^m.71	14^m.8			R Coronae Borealis (RCB)
S CrB	Corona Borealis		5^m.8	14^m.1		d	Mira variable (M)
T CrB	Corona Borealis		2^m.0	10^m.8		(80 years)	recurrent nova (NR)
U CrB	Corona Borealis		7^m.66	8^m.79		d	Eclipsing binary Algol type (EA/SD)
V CrB	Corona Borealis		6^m.9	12^m.6		d	Mira variable (M)
W CrB	Corona Borealis		7^m.8	14^m.3		d	Mira variable (M)
R Cru	Crux		6^m.40	7^m.23		d	Classical Cepheid (DCEP)
R Crv	Corvus		6^m.7	14^m.4		d	Mira variable (M)
χ Cyg	Cygnus	Kirch, 1686	3^m.3	14^m.2		d	Mira variable (M)
R Cyg	Cygnus		6^m.1	14^m.4		d	Mira variable (M)
U Cyg	Cygnus		5^m.9	12^m.1		d	Mira variable (M)
W Cyg	Cygnus		6^m.80 (B)	8^m.9 (B)		d	Semiregular (SRB)
X Cyg	Cygnus		5^m.85	6^m.91		d	Classical Cepheid (DCEP)
RT Cyg	Cygnus		6^m.0	13^m.1		d	Mira variable (M)
SS Cyg	Cygnus		7^m.7	12^m.4		(49.5 d)	dwarf nova UGSS prototype
SU Cyg	Cygnus		6^m.44	7^m.22		d	Classical Cepheid (DCEP)
CH Cyg	Cygnus		5^m.60	8^m.49			Z Andromedae (ZAND+SR)
R Del	Delphinus		7^m.6	13^m.8		d	Mira variable (M)
U Del	Delphinus		7^m.6 (p)	8^m.9 (p)		d	Semiregular (SRB)
EU Del	Delphinus		5^m.79	6^m.9		d	Semiregular (SRB)
β Dor	Dorado		3^m.46	4^m.08		d	Classical Cepheid (DCEP)
S Dor	Dorado		8^m.6 (B)	11^m.5 (B)			S Doradus (SDOR) (prototype)	in the Large Magellanic Cloud
R Dra	Draco		6^m.7	13^m.2		d	Mira variable (M)
T Eri	Eridanus		7^m.2	13^m.2		d	Mira variable (M)
R For	Fornax		7^m.5	13^m.0		d	Mira variable (M)
η Gem (Propus)	Gemini		3^m.15	3^m.9		d	Semiregular (SRA+EA)
ζ Gem (Mekbuda)	Gemini		3^m.62	4^m.18		d	Classical Cepheid (DCEP)
R Gem	Gemini	Hind, 1848	6^m.0	14^m.0		d	Mira variable (M)
S Gem	Gemini	Hind, 1848	8^m.0	14^m.7		d	Mira variable (M)
T Gem	Gemini	Hind, 1848	8^m.0	15^m.0		d	Mira variable (M)
U Gem	Gemini		8^m.2	14^m.9		(105.2 d)	dwarf nova (UGSS+E)
S Gru	Grus		6^m.0	15^m.0		d	Mira variable (M)
α Her (Rasalgethi)	Hercules	William Herschel, 1759	2^m.74	4^m.0			Semiregular (SRC)
g Her (30 Her)	Hercules		4^m.3	6^m.3		d	Semiregular (SRB)
u Her (68 Her)	Hercules		4^m.69	5^m.37		d	Eclipsing binary Algol type (EA/SD)
S Her	Hercules		6^m.4	13^m.8		d	Mira variable (M)
U Her	Hercules		6^m.4	13^m.4		d	Mira variable (M)
X Her	Hercules		7^m.5 (p)	8^m.6 (p)		d	Semiregular (SRB)
R Hor	Horologium		4^m.7	14^m.3		d	Mira variable (M)
U Hor	Horologium		7^m.8 (p)	15^m.1 (p)		d	Mira variable (M)
R Hya	Hydra	Maraldi, 1704	3^m.5	10^m.9		d	Mira variable (M)
S Hya	Hydra	Hind, 1848	7^m.2	13^m.3		d	Mira variable (M)
U Hya	Hydra		7^m.0 (B)	9^m.4 (B)		~450 d	Semiregular (SRB)
VW Hya	Hydra		10^m.5	14^m.1		d	Eclipsing binary Algol type (EA/SD)
BL Lac	Lacerta		12^m.4 (B)	17^m.2 (B)			BLLAC prototype	originally thought to be a variable star, but laterdiscovered to be a blazar
R Leo	Leo	J.A. Koch, 1782	4^m.4	11^m.3		d	Mira variable (M)
R Lep	Lepus		5^m.5	11^m.7		d	Mira variable (M)	Hind's Crimson Star
RX Lep	Lepus		5^m.0	7^m.4		~60 d	Semiregular (SRB)
R LMi	Leo Minor		6^m.3	13^m.2		d	Mira variable (M)
RU Lup	Lupus		9^m.6 (p)	13^m.4 (p)			Orion variable (INT)
β Lyr (Sheliak)	Lyra	John Goodricke, 1784	3^m.25	4^m.36		d	Eclipsing binary Beta Lyrae type (prototype)
R Lyr	Lyra		3^m.88	5^m.0		~46 d	Semiregular (SRB)
RR Lyr	Lyra		7^m.06	8^m.12		d	RR Lyrae variable (prototype)
U Mic	Microscopium		7^m.0	14^m.4		d	Mira variable (M)
U Mon	Monoceros		6^m.1 (p)	8^m.8 (p)		d	RV Tauri variable (RVB)
V Mon	Monoceros		6^m.0	13^m.9		d	Mira variable (M)
R Nor	Norma		6^m.5 (p)	13^m.9 (p)		d	Mira variable (M)
T Nor	Norma		6^m.2	13^m.6		d	Mira variable (M)
R Oct	Octans		6^m.4	13^m.2		d	Mira variable (M)
S Oct	Octans		7^m.2	14^m.0		d	Mira variable (M)
V Oph	Ophiuchus		7^m.3	11^m.6		d	Mira variable (M)
X Oph	Ophiuchus		5^m.9	9^m.2		d	Mira variable (M)
RS Oph	Ophiuchus		4^m.3	12^m.5			recurrent nova (NR)
BF Oph	Ophiuchus		6^m.93	7^m.71		d	Classical Cepheid (DCEP)
α Ori (Betelgeuse)	Orion	John Herschel, 1840	0^m.0	1^m.3		6.39 years	Semiregular (SRC)
δ Ori (Mintaka)	Orion	John Herschel, 1834	2^m.14	2^m.26		d	Eclipsing binary Algol type (EA/DM)
R Ori	Orion	Hind, 1848	9^m.05	13^m.4		d	Mira variable (M)
U Ori	Orion		4^m.8	13^m.0		d	Mira variable (M)
W Ori	Orion		8^m.2 (p)	12^m.4 (p)		d	Semiregular (SRB)
VV Ori	Orion		5^m.31	5^m.66		d	Eclipsing binary Algol type (EA/KE:)
CK Ori	Orion		5^m.9	7^m.1		~120 d	Semiregular (SR:)
κ Pav	Pavo		3^m.91	4^m.78		d	Type II Cepheid (CW)
S Pav	Pavo		6^m.6	10^m.4		d	Semiregular (SRA)
β Peg (Scheat)	Pegasus	Schmidt, 1847	2^m.31	2^m.74			LB
ε Peg (Enif)	Pegasus		0^m.7	3^m.5			LC
R Peg	Pegasus	Hind, 1848	6^m.9	13^m.8		d	Mira variable (M)
X Peg	Pegasus		8^m.8	14^m.4		d	Mira variable (M)
β Per (Algol)	Perseus	Geminiano Montanari, 1669	2^m.12	3^m.39		d	Eclipsing binary Algol type (EA/SD) (prototype)	The Demon Star
DY Persei	Perseus						R Coronae Borealis / DY Persei / (prototype)
φ Per	Perseus		3^m.96	4^m.11		d	Gamma Cassiopeiae (GCAS)
ρ Per	Perseus		3^m.30	4^m.0		~50 d	Semiregular (SRB)
X Per	Perseus		6^m.03	7^m.0			Gamma Cassiopeiae (GCAS+XP)
ζ Phe (Wurren)	Phoenix		3^m.91	4^m.42		d	Eclipsing binary Algol type (EA/DM)
R Pic	Pictor		6^m.35	10^m.1		d	Semiregular (SR)
R Psc	Pisces	Hind, 1850	7^m.0	14^m.8		d	Mira variable (M)
TX Psc	Pisces		4^m.79	5^m.20			LB
L^2 Pup	Puppis		2^m.6	6^m.2		d	Semiregular (SRB)
RS Pup	Puppis		6^m.52	7^m.67		d	Classical Cepheid (DCEP)
T Pyx	Pyxis		7^m.0 (B)	15^m.77 (B)		(20 years)	recurrent nova (NR)
S Scl	Sculptor		5^m.5	13^m.6		d	Mira variable (M)
RR Sco	Scorpius		5^m.0	12^m.4		d	Mira variable (M)
RS Sco	Scorpius		6^m.2	13^m.0		d	Mira variable (M)
RT Sco	Scorpius		7^m.0	15^m.2		d	Mira variable (M)
R Sct	Scutum	Pigott, 1795	4^m.2	8^m.6		d	RV Tauri variable (RVA)
R Ser	Serpens	Harding, 1826	5^m.16	14^m.4		d	Mira variable (M)
S Ser	Serpens	Harding, 1828	7^m.0	14^m.1		d	Mira variable (M)
U Sge	Sagitta		6^m.45	9^m.28		d	Eclipsing binary Algol type (EA/SD)
WZ Sge	Sagitta		7^m.0 (B)	15^m.53 (B)		(33 years)	dwarf nova (UGSU+E+ZZ)
RR Sgr	Sagittarius		5^m.4	14^m.0		d	Mira variable (M)
R Sgr	Sagittarius		6^m.7	12^m.83		d	Mira variable (M)
U Sgr	Sagittarius(in M25)		6^m.28	7^m.15		d	Classical Cepheid (DCEP)
RT Sgr	Sagittarius		6^m.0	14^m.1		d	Mira variable (M)
RU Sgr	Sagittarius		6^m.0	13^m.8		d	Mira variable (M)
RY Sgr	Sagittarius		5^m.8	14^m.0			R Coronae Borealis (RCB)
VX Sgr	Sagittarius		6^m.52	14^m.0		d	Semiregular (SRC)
λ Tau	Taurus	Baxendell, 1848	3^m.37	3^m.91		d	Eclipsing binary Algol type (EA/DM)
R Tau	Taurus	Hind, 1849	7^m.6	15^m.8		d	Mira variable (M)
T Tau	Taurus		9^m.3	13^m.5			Orion variable (INT)
SU Tau	Taurus		9^m.1	16^m.86			R Coronae Borealis (RCB)
R Tri	Triangulum		5^m.4	12^m.6		d	Mira variable (M)
R UMa	Ursa Major		6^m.5	13^m.7		d	Mira variable (M)
T UMa	Ursa Major		6^m.6	13^m.5		d	Mira variable (M)
U UMa	Ursa Major		6^m.20	6^m.25			-
W UMa	Ursa Major		7^m.75	8^m.48		d	Eclipsing binary W Ursae Majoris type (prototype)
Z UMa	Ursa Major		6^m.2	9^m.4		d	Semiregular (SRB)
α UMi (Polaris)	Ursa Minor		1^m.86	2^m.13		d	Classical Cepheid (DCEPS)
R Vir	Virgo	Harding, 1809	6^m.1	12^m.1		d	Mira variable (M)
S Vir	Virgo		6^m.3	13^m.2		d	Mira variable (M)

References

• David H. Levy, Observing variable stars : a guide for the beginner
• General Catalogue of Variable Stars

See also

• Lists of astronomical objects
• Lists of stars
• List of semiregular variable stars
• List of stars that have unusual dimming periods

Notes and References

1. Samus' . N. N. . Kazarovets . E. V. . Durlevich . O. V. . Kireeva . N. N. . Pastukhova . E. N. . 2017 . General catalogue of variable stars: Version GCVS 5.1 . Astronomy Reports . 61 . 1 . 80 . 2017ARep...61...80S . 10.1134/S1063772917010085.
2. (visual magnitude, unless marked (B) (= blue) or (p) (= photographic))
3. (visual magnitude, unless marked (B) (= blue) or (p) (= photographic))