Aljanah

Its story

Aljanah means 'the wing' in Arabic and traces the eastern wing of the Swan as it glides with outstretched feathers along the broad river of the Milky Way. It is a calm, cool orange K-type giant lying just over 72 light-years away, close enough that its colour is unmistakable on a dark night. Its soft amber light arrives tonight after a journey that began around 1953, at the dawn of the space age.