Alsafi

Its story

Alsafi is an orange star just 18.8 light-years from the Earth, a very close neighbour set in the tail of Draco, one of the oldest constellations of the northern hemisphere sky. Its name comes from the Arabic «al-athafi», the copper tripods on which a Bedouin camp's cooking pot rested above the open fire during the long, cold nights spent in the open desert. It is among the most closely studied Sun-like stars by modern astronomers, prized for its advanced age and its remarkably quiet behaviour throughout the period of recorded observation.