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S DoradusS Doradus is the brightest star in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. It is one of the intrinsically brightest stars known (measured by absolute magnitude), but so far away that it is invisible to the naked eye. S Doradus varies from about 8.6 to 11.7 apparent magnitude from Earth, and can be found in the extreme southern sky (in the constellation Dorado) at right ascension 5h 18.2m, declination -6915′. Some have speculated that S Doradus may be a binary star. The data is inconclusive at this time, however. This star belongs to its own eponymous S Doradus class of variable stars (these classes are usually named after their prototypes) which contains the well-known stars Eta Carinae and P Cygni. S Doradus variables exhibit long, slow changes in brightness, punctuated by occasional outbursts. These stars are gigantic — many from 50 to 120 solar masses. Therefore they burn out very quickly, in only a few millions of years. However, they also can shine millions of times brighter than the Sun.
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