Psi

Its story

Psi Virginis is an M-type red giant in the body of the Maiden some 545 light-years away. Its brightness shifts gently —the slow pulse of a cool, extended atmosphere breathing to the rhythm of its own convection—, one of many red embers scattered across the constellation. Set in Virgo’s northern reach, it shares the sky with one of the great galaxy clusters of the nearby universe, yet itself belongs to the modest handful of aging stars that decorate our own Milky Way.