hip-53035

Its story

In the modest Sextant, some 506 light-years away, shines this orange type K star. Its light set out around 1520, while Luther was nailing up his theses and Europe was splintering into confessions, unaware that within a few years Magellan and Elcano would close the first circumnavigation. Cooler than the Sun but noticeably larger, it offers its amber tone within a modern constellation born from the astronomer's own instrument.