Stars · Star in Auriga
Star
Capella
The “little she-goat”: not one star but two yellow giants, each about as warm as the Sun, circling each other every 104 days.
- Constellation
- Auriga
- Designation
- α Aurigae
- Apparent magnitude
- 0.08 · 6th brightest star in the night sky
- Spectral class
- M1: comp
- Distance
- 42.8 light-years
- Position (J2000)
- RA 5h 17m · Dec +46° 00′
A red star, around 3,600 K, like Betelgeuse and Antares. About 370× brighter than the faintest star the eye can see. The light you are seeing left in 1983.
Myth
The goat Amalthea, who suckled the infant Zeus. One of her horns broke off and became the cornucopia, the horn of plenty.
Look for
It is the brightest star close to the north celestial pole, and from much of Europe it never sets. It often flashes colours low in winter twilight.