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Its story

The southern Compasses hold a calm orange star whose light set out a hundred and sixty-one years ago, when the great railways were first crossing entire continents. It is an ageing giant, its surface cooler than the Sun’s yet its size and brilliance magnifying it many times over. Its warm hue calls to mind tempered embers, the colour of long afternoons just before they decline. Visible from southern skies, it rests in a small and often overlooked constellation.