hip-54029

Its story

In the small celestial cup of Crater, low in the southern sky, shines a yellow type-G star —a spectral cousin of the Sun— whose light took 338 years to cross the void. When that light departed, the Habsburgs ruled half of Europe and the Baroque was at its peak. It is a giant that has long left its youth behind: swollen, generous, pouring the light of many suns into space. Its golden tone recalls a ceremonial candle lit in some distant temple.