hip-87936

Its story

In the visual heart of Scorpius it burns with the calm red light of cool class M stars, the deep tone that recalls embers in a fire. Its glow has travelled 451 years, leaving at a time when Gutenberg's press was still recent and European astronomers were beginning to prefer the telescope to the naked eye. It is an aged giant or subgiant, far larger than the Sun, that has swollen its outer layers and lowered its temperature.