Tau

Its story

Another quiet orange star in Pisces, 169 light-years away, glowing at the end of the cord that in Greco-Roman myth ties the two fish during their flight from Typhon. It is a K-type giant, already swollen and cooled compared with the Sun; its light carries a warm tinge that stands out, on a truly dark night, against its whiter neighbours. Without fanfare it marks one of those secondary landmarks that articulate the scattered geometry of the longest and faintest of the zodiacal constellations.