light years from Earth. It is classified as a Mira typevariable star and its brightness varies between magnitude +4.5 and +10.0 with a period of 149.49 days.[3] It has one of the earliest spectral types, and hence the hottest temperatures, of any Mira variable, and has a relatively short period for the class.[10] The temperature of this pulsing star is highest at visual brightness maximum and lowest at visual brightness minimum.[9]
S Carinae has exhausted its core hydrogen and expanded to become a red giant. It has also exhausted its core helium and evolved to the asymptotic giant branch, where it fuses hydrogen and helium in separate shells outside the core.[10][4]
