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Its story

42 Ursae Majoris is an orange giant 273 light-years away, tucked into the Great Bear away from the iconic Plough. It belongs to the family of suns that have left quiet hydrogen burning behind and swollen into warm-toned embers. Its light set out in the early eighteenth century, while Newton was still publishing his final corrections to the Principia. It arrives today as ancient amber, while the Bear keeps its slow polar turn.