V419 Cephei

V419 Cephei is an irregular variable star in the constellation of Cepheus with an apparent magnitude that varies between 6.54 and 6.89.

Distance

The Hipparcos-measured parallax of is not well-constrained to evaluate its distance. Based on kinematic analysis, its most likely distance is, equal to. The Gaia Data Release 2 parallax of is consistent with this distance. It is a member of the stellar association Cepheus OB2-A.

V419 Cephei is a red supergiant of spectral type M2 Ib with an effective temperature around 3,700 K and an estimated radius of. The K-band angular diameter measurements equal 5.90 ± 0.70 milliarcseconds, which leads to a figure not much higher, although the uncertainty in its distance must also be taken into account. If placed at the Sun's location, it would engulf the orbits of Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, and roughly half of the asteroid belt.
Published values for the mass of V419 Cephei vary from around to over, above the limit beyond which stars end their lives as supernovae. The life of such massive stars is very short. Despite its advanced evolutionary state, V419 Cephei is only 10 million years old.
The variability of the brightness of the star was discovered when the Hipparcos data was analyzed. It was given its variable star designation, V419 Cephei, in 1999. Billed as an irregular variable star of type LC, V419 Cephei's brightness varies between magnitudes 6.54 and 6.89 with no apparent periodicity.