Rho-2

Its story

Rho-2 Arietis is a variable red giant that pulsates slowly inside zodiacal Aries, the constellation that traditionally opens the wheel of the zodiac signs. Its brightness is not constant: it varies on long timescales while the star, an aged M-type body, slowly sheds its outer layers and edges towards the end of its existence. The light arriving tonight set out 351 years ago, when Louis XIV still reigned in France, the Sun King who commissioned the building of Versailles.