Ups

Its story

In the Wolf — the constellation that Greek astronomers pictured as an animal held aloft by the neighbouring Centaur — this A-type white star shines from 407 light-years away. Its light set out at the start of the 17th century, just as Galileo first turned his small telescope toward the moons of Jupiter. The region of sky where it lies also holds the remnant of one of the brightest supernovae ever recorded, SN 1006, witnessed by Chinese and Arab astronomers a thousand years ago.