Thuban

Its story

Thuban was the pole star of the ancient Egyptians. Some five thousand years ago, when the pyramids of Giza were rising from the desert, it marked the celestial north — and the inner corridors of the Great Pyramid seem to point exactly toward it. A white A-class star about 303 light-years away, set in the sinuous body of Draco, its light — modest to the modern eye — has been crossing space since Bach was composing cantatas in Leipzig.