Menkalinan

Its story

Menkalinan means «the shoulder of the rein-holder», a tribute to the mythical charioteer of Auriga. It is a variable star: two suns so close they eclipse each other every four days, dimming in a regular blink first noticed in the late nineteenth century. At 81 light-years, its white light reached our night sky when Europe's earliest radios were learning to speak.