hip-36496

Its story

A red M-type giant glows softly within the constellation of Carina, far cooler than the Sun yet so vast that its surface dwarfs anything in our solar system. Its light set out roughly five centuries ago, when Magellan and Elcano completed the first circumnavigation of Earth and proved the world to be round. After 475 light-years that warm crimson glow arrives, faithful to the era that finally allowed humanity to hold the whole planet within a single thought.