hip-85340

Its story

A serene white A-type beacon glows along the northern flank of Ophiuchus, the serpent-bearer. At magnitude 4.16 it remains visible to the unaided eye on a clear night, set apart from the busier summer constellations. Its light has travelled roughly eighty-three years to reach us —a modest cosmic span, yet long enough that the photons arriving tonight left the star before humans first set foot on the Moon.