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Its story

In Microscopium, one of those southern constellations invented in the eighteenth century to honour laboratory instruments, shines an A-type white star. Its light set out one hundred and eighty-four years ago, when the first steam trains were beginning to compress distances across Europe. Hotter than the Sun, its cool, sharp tone contrasts with the near-empty darkness of its celestial corner. It is a modest point in a modest figure, yet its light has been crossing space for a century and a half to reach us.