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Its story

In Hydra, the longest serpent in the sky stretching across a quarter of the firmament, rests an orange K-type star. Its light set out some 359 years ago, while Louis XIV reigned at Versailles and the Royal Society was being founded in London, laying the groundwork of modern science. Cooler than the Sun and of a gentle radiance, it is one of the many golden scales running along the sinuous body of the celestial serpent.