hip-31448

Its story

In Monoceros, the discreet constellation drawn by Bartsch in the 17th century, pulses an orange K-class giant whose light has been travelling for over fifteen centuries: it set out as the Western Roman Empire was finishing its collapse and the early Middle Ages were beginning. Cooler than the Sun and swollen to dozens of times its size, it radiates a coppery gleam. It is a patient beacon over the winter band of the sky, indifferent to the ages and empires of humankind.