hip-2941

Its story

Just 50 light-years away, in the constellation Cetus, shines an orange class K star. Its light set out around 1976, when the Viking probes were descending onto Mars and Voyager waited on its launch pad. It is a relatively close neighbor of the Sun: cooler, smaller and slower in evolution. K stars like this one live so long they will likely still be shining well after the Sun has exhausted its hydrogen.