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Just under 59 light-years away, Menkent is one of the closest of the bright orange giants and the Theta star of Centaurus. Its K-type spectrum and colour index of 1.011 place it among the cooler evolved stars, glowing with a characteristic orange hue. Menkent's apparent magnitude of 2.06 is matched by a fairly ordinary absolute magnitude of 0.78, meaning its brightness in Earth's sky owes much to its proximity rather than to exceptional intrinsic power. The near agreement between its apparent and absolute figures is a hallmark of a nearby star. It occupies the northern reaches of Centaurus, set apart from the constellation's more distant and luminous blue stars.