hip-18647

Its story

In the river Eridanus, which snakes southward in stellar curves, shines this orange K-type giant, cooler and far larger than the Sun. Its light set out 735 years ago, around 1289, when the first mechanical clocks were being documented in Europe's monasteries. Its amber hue places it among the evolved stars, those that have inflated their atmospheres and now burn with the golden calm of a well-tempered furnace.