R Puppis was identified as a variable star in 1879, and described as having a range of over a magnitude.[11] Numerous observations over the following 100 years failed to confirm the variations, until the 1970s when clear brightness changes were observed.[12] These were confirmed by later observations, but with a total visual amplitude of only about 0.2 magnitudes.[11]
Variable stars such as R Puppis have been described as pseudo-Cepheids, because they lie above the high-luminosity portion of the instability strip and their variations are similar to those of Cepheids although less regular.[11] R Puppis is formally classified as a semiregular variable of type SRd, meaning F, G, or K giants or supergiants.[2]
^ abcSamus, N. N.; Durlevich, O. V.; et al. (2009). "VizieR Online Data Catalog: General Catalogue of Variable Stars (Samus+ 2007-2013)". VizieR On-line Data Catalog: B/GCVS. Originally Published in: 2009yCat....102025S. 1. Bibcode:2009yCat....102025S.
^ abDucati, J. R. (2002). "VizieR Online Data Catalog: Catalogue of Stellar Photometry in Johnson's 11-color system". CDS/ADC Collection of Electronic Catalogues. 2237. Bibcode:2002yCat.2237....0D.
^Arellano Ferro, A.; Parrao, L. (1990). "Colour excesses and absolute magnitudes for non-Cepheid F-G supergiants from uvbybeta photometry". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 239: 205. Bibcode:1990A&A...239..205A.
^Anders, F.; Khalatyan, A.; Queiroz, A. B. A.; Chiappini, C.; Ardevol, J.; Casamiquela, L.; Figueras, F.; Jimenez-Arranz, O.; Jordi, C.; Monguio, M.; Romero-Gomez, M.; Altamirano, D.; Antoja, T.; Assaad, R.; Cantat-Gaudin, T.; Castro-Ginard, A.; Enke, H.; Girardi, L.; Guiglion, G.; Khan, S.; Luri, X.; Miglio, A.; Minchev, I.; Ramos, P.; Santiago, B. X.; Steinmetz, M. (2022). "VizieR Online Data Catalog: StarHorse2, Gaia EDR3 photo-astrometric distances (Anders+, 2022)". Vizier Online Data Catalog. Bibcode:2022yCat.1354....0A.
^ abcUsenko, I. A.; Kniazev, A. Yu.; Berdnikov, L. N.; Kravtsov, V. V. (2011). "Spectroscopic studies of Cepheids (S Cru, AP Pup, AX Cir, S TrA, T Cru, R Mus, S Mus, U Car) and semiregular bright supergiants (V382 Car, HD 75276, R Pup) in the southern hemisphere". Astronomy Letters. 37 (7): 499. Bibcode:2011AstL...37..499U. doi:10.1134/S1063773711070061. S2CID122968535.
^Garcia, B. (1989). "A list of MK standard stars". Bulletin d'Information du Centre de Données Stellaires. 36: 27. Bibcode:1989BICDS..36...27G.