Marfik

Its story

Marfik is the Lambda of Ophiuchus, its name derived from the Arabic «al-mirfaq», «the elbow» — designating, as one might guess, the joint of the snake-handler's arm. A white A-class star about 173 light-years away, it is a middling flame in an immense constellation stretched across the celestial equator, one the Sun briefly crosses each year even though the traditional zodiac passes it by.