hip-3607

Its story

In vast Cetus shines a yellow class G star at 304 light-years. Its light began its journey around 1722, when Bach was composing his first cantatas in Leipzig and European astronomers were refining pendulum clocks. It is the same spectral type as the Sun, but more evolved: it has entered the phase in which the outer layers expand and cool. Looking at its light is gazing at the likely future of our own star.