hip-26885

Its story

51 Orionis glows amber some 294 light-years away, an orange K-type giant leaning at the edge of the celestial hunter. Its surface, thousands of degrees cooler than the Sun's, lends it the muted reddish hue that marks suns well into maturity. The light reaching us tonight set out while the great Baroque masters were still painting; it travels nearly three centuries to surface again in northern winter, beside the firmament's most recognisable figure.