Zaurak

Its story

Zaurak, a variable red giant 203 light-years from the Earth, occupies a quiet bend in the constellation Eridanus, away from the brighter stars of the celestial river. Its name comes from the Arabic «al-zauraq», the boat: medieval astronomers in the Maghreb and in Baghdad imagined a small skiff drifting slowly along the current of the river of stars, avoiding invisible sandbanks beneath the water. Its cool light pulses slowly, almost imperceptible to the naked eye, as if the boat were still rocking gently on the current, in no hurry to reach any particular port.