hip-29650

Its story

71 Orionis lies 68 light-years away, close enough to belong to the same bustling solar neighbourhood. It is a yellow-white F-type star, slightly hotter than the Sun, sitting in a less celebrated quarter of the Hunter, well away from the belt. Its light, emitted in the second half of the last century, now crosses windows and eyepieces with the freshness of an almost contemporary signal.