hip-22730

Its story

5 Orionis is a red M-type giant 591 light-years away, set on the northern edge of the Hunter, well away from the famous belt and the Great Nebula. Its cool light —barely half the Sun's temperature— has been travelling since the mid-fifteenth century. It glows in a stretch of winter sky that most stargazers skim over, drawn instead to the brighter showpieces at the centre of Orion.