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The white star half a degree northward of Xi2 Sagittarii is Xi1 Sagittarii. Despite sharing the Bayer designation 'Xi', the two stars are unrelated to one another, apart from the fact that they fall close together as seen from Earth. Xi1, though it appears to be the fainter of the two, is actually a bright giant some eight times more luminous than Xi2, but nearly two thousand light years farther from the Sun. Imagery provided by Aladin sky atlas

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