hip-55797

Its story

Beneath the wagon of Ursa Major shines an orange K-class giant, lying a little over three hundred light-years away. The coppery light that now defines it departed when the first steamboats were crossing the Seine and European refracting telescopes were beginning to rival the great English reflectors. It is an ageing star, much wider than the Sun but cooler at the surface, locked in a luminous calm that will last for millions of years.