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Its story

A red M-type giant burns faintly in the vast, sparsely populated Camelopardalis, about 499 light years from here. Its light began its journey around 1527, when imperial troops were sacking Rome and the Renaissance was passing through one of its most turbulent episodes. Cooler than the Sun, swollen and deep orange, it embodies that late stage in which stars expand their outer layers. The Giraffe, that late and unassuming constellation, offers it an almost private sky between the North Pole and the Great Bear.