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Its story

Some 245 light years away, in the northern reaches of Cepheus, a K-type orange star greets us with a warm, unhurried tone. Its light set out around 1781, just as William Herschel was discovering Uranus and the solar system was doubling its known boundaries. Cooler and generally older than the Sun, it belongs to that family of suns that have started leaving youth behind to drift toward giant maturity. It glows discreetly above the legendary king's square, reminding us that the northern sky hides jewels easily overlooked.