The

Its story

Theta Antliae is a pair discovered by the South African astronomer W. S. Finsen in 1952, well into the twentieth century—an era when the catalogue of visible binaries was still being filled in. The primary is a white star with strong metallic lines; its companion is a yellow giant. Together they shine at 339 light-years, in the modest constellation of the Air Pump that Lacaille drew to honour the Enlightenment.