Eta Cancri is an evolved star, having reached the later stage in its life cycle that sees its outer shell expand outward from its core. While only approximatly 1.5 times the mass of the Sun, this phase of expansion has seen the star's shell reach a diameter some seventeen times greater than that of the Sun.
From Earth, Eta Cancri appears to be a faintstar just on the verge of naked-eye visibility. In reality, it is an orangegiant more than three hundred light years distant.
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