Iklil

Its story

Iklil burns with blue light 472 light-years away in Scorpius, a class-B star whose surface temperature lies far above that of our Sun. Its Arabic name, «iklil», means «the crown» or «the diadem», and once designated the group of stars that traced a garland above the celestial scorpion's head. To pause one's gaze on it is to watch a photon that set out when the first European conquistadors were stepping onto American soil.