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Its story

17 Monocerotis is an orange K-type giant burning some 493 light-years away in the Unicorn — a modern constellation opened between Orion and Canis Major, almost devoid of bright stars to the naked eye. Its light crosses a stretch of Milky Way studded with young clusters before reaching today's telescopes. It embodies the warm elegance of mature suns: no longer white hydrogen, but the copper glow of a tiring furnace.