hip-116368

Its story

In Aquarius, the water-bearer presiding over autumn skies, shines an orange star whose light set out three hundred and seventy-two years ago, when the Netherlands were living their Golden Age and Vermeer was painting interiors lit by northern light. It is an ageing giant with a surface cooler than the Sun’s, granting it that lukewarm copper tone reminiscent of old amber. It belongs to a zodiacal constellation laden with mythology, all linked to water, the flood and the renewal of life.