hip-56290

Its story

Only 91 light-years away, within the Big Dipper's bowl, shines a yellow-white type-F star —a close cosmic neighbour. Its light set out barely nine decades ago, when radio was beginning to bind continents and cinema was finding its voice. A touch hotter and brighter than our Sun, it offers that crisp, gentle tone halfway between gold and silver. In the boreal night it belongs to a pattern humanity has recognised since the most ancient of times.