hip-89115

Its story

In small Apus —the Bird of Paradise of the deep southern sky— shines this orange K-type giant two hundred forty-five light years away. Its light began its journey around 1780, when the Montgolfier brothers were preparing in Annonay the experiments that would culminate three years later in the first hot-air balloon flight. Colder and far larger than the Sun, it glows discreetly near the southern celestial pole, seen only from meridional latitudes as a quiet ember of the firmament.