Hadar

Its story

Hadar burns as a blue beacon in the forefoot of the Centaur, a variable giant whose magnitude shifts gently with the pulse of its outer layers. The light arriving tonight across 392 light-years left when Galileo first turned his telescope skyward in the early 17th century. Southern observers know it as Beta Centauri, the inseparable companion of Alpha Centauri on the path toward the Southern Cross.