hip-45924

Cool red star

Its story

Red, cold, almost crimson. This M-type giant inhabits Vela, five hundred and seventy-four light-years away, and its surface barely passes three thousand kelvin, far less than the Sun. The light the camera gathers tonight left the star around 1451, the year Christopher Columbus was born in Genoa. Its near-blood colour is the mark of an aged star, expanded and cooled in the final stretch of its life.

Constellation: Vela
Apparent magnitude: 5.56
Distance: 574.3 light years
Coordinates (J2000): RA 140.462° · Dec -42.195°
Catalogue: HIP 45924 · HD 81034

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Symbolic commemorative gift — no ownership, no IAU recognition.