Alkaphrah

Its story

Alkaphrah, white and unassuming, shines at 358 light-years from the Earth in the rich constellation Ursa Major, far from the attention given to its more spectacular neighbours of the Big Dipper. Its Arabic name translates roughly as «the leap»: it belongs to an old group of stars that Islamic astronomers pictured as gazelles bounding across the sky, startled by a silent hunt unfolding among the constellations. It is a faint glow, enough to locate it on a dark night without the help of any instrument, too modest to catch the eye of anyone not actually looking.