hip-108294

Its story

In the southern Crane, Grus, shines a white A-type star whose light has been crossing space for a little more than three centuries. It set out when Bach was composing his cantatas in Leipzig and the great refracting telescopes were beginning to unravel Saturn's rings in finer detail. It is hotter and more luminous than the Sun, with a surface near nine thousand degrees. Its cool, crisp glow recalls a time when European music and optics were being tuned with the same patience.