Two of the most famous Mira variables in the sky, R Leporis and Chi Cygni, are challenging, but for different reasons: R Leporis is unusually red, and Chi Cygni lies in a rich field of stars.

R Leporis

Until you've seen R Leporis at maximum, you haven't seen red. Here is a star whose redness offers us a new interpretation of color, a transcendent presence of vivid hue from a great distance.

In my early years of stargazing, I was guided by an old book by J. B. Sidgwick called Introducing Astronomy. During hundreds of observing sessions it taught me faithfully, pointing out the constellations one by one, as well as the inspiring contents of each. I especially remember the description of M42 as exciting to read about as the nebula was to look at. Then I'd turn the page for Lepus the Rabbit, just to see what glories were hidden from me in the little constellation that couldn't quite hop above the treetops of my southern horizon. It was Introducing Astronomy that taught me about R Leporis, Hind's Crimson Star, that shone in the sky like a drop of blood. As much as I longed to see this star, I expected I never would until either the trees fell down or I moved to a better site. Since neither prospect seemed very likely in the slowly-moving world of my youth, I relegated R Lep to a growing list of objects I would never see.