The nearby star Vega holds a special place in human culture. Located just 25 light-years away, this shining beacon—about twice the mass of the sun and 40 times as bright—is so prominent in Earth’s skies that it captivated ancient astronomers across the globe. A few thousand years ago it was also our planet’s North Star, until Polaris took its place as Earth’s axis wobbled. (Vega is set to reclaim the North Star crown in 12,000 years). As such, many have considered this iconic star an intriguing place to look for life, none more so than the astronomer Carl Sagan, who imagined signals from an intelligent civilization arriving from Vega in his 1985 novel Contact, which was adapted into a blockbuster movie in 1997.

So there was some disappointment earlier this month when astronomers announced a baffling discovery about this star.

The star, despite being about halfway through its one-billion-year lifetime, does not seem to have formed any large worlds.