Aladfar

Its story

Aladfar burns 1,388 light-years away in Lyra, a blue class-B star whose light takes longer to reach us than the whole of recorded European history. Its name derives from the Arabic «al-athafi», the talons, and once referred to the claws of the neighbouring eagle rather than to the lyre itself. Aladfar is among the most distant traditionally named stars from the solar system: when its light set out, the Byzantine emperors still reigned in Constantinople.