Alp

Its story

Alpha Hydri presides over the small southern constellation of the Male Water Snake, charted by Dutch navigators at the close of the sixteenth century. A type F subgiant some 72 light-years away —practically a neighbour by galactic standards— it shines with a creamy white light slightly warmer than the Sun. It is crossing the phase in which its hydrogen core has been exhausted, foreshadowing the fate that awaits Sun-like stars billions of years from now.