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Its story

13 Boötis is a red M-type giant, variable and serene, some 549 light-years away along the slopes of the Herdsman —that celestial shepherd who drives the northern constellations—. Its cool surface dyes the light a deep orange and its brightness fluctuates with the slow rhythm characteristic of old swollen stars. The light reaching us today set out when Spanish conquistadors were landing on the coasts of Mexico.