Aurgia

Free Constellations Clipart

Abbreviation:  Aur
English Name:  The Charioteer
Genitive: Aurigae or Capella
Hemisphere:  Northern Hemisphere
Location: Between the constellations of Taurus and Camelopardis.
Visible between latitudes:  +90 and -40 degrees
Best season: Winter
Seen in three seasons: Autumn, Winter and Spring
Best seen in:  January/February
Seen between: October and March
Right Ascension (RA):  06 hour
Declination (DEC):  +40 degrees
Area (square degrees):  657 (21st)

Aurgia (The Charioteer)

  • A large constellation – containing the brightest star, Capella (Alpha Aurigae).
  • The sixth brightest star in the night sky, at magnitude +0.1.
  • To the naked-eye, it’s appearing yellow; consisting of two yellow-coloured giants  stars that orbit each other every 104 days.
  • Capella is circumpolar anywhere north of 50 degrees latitude.
  • The Milky Way passes through it, so the area contains several Open Clusters – Messier 36, Messier 37 and Messier 38.

Messier Objects

  • M36 – Small bright Open Cluster, readily visible in binoculars.
  • M37 – Very Large Open Cluster, almost the diameter of the Full Moon – hazy spot in binoculars, but resolves into a large numbers of stars by a telescope.
  • M38 – Slightly fainter than M36, but is larger – sometimes be resolved with binoculars.

Other objects in Auriga

Features of Interest

  • NGC2281 – an other Open Cluster visible in binoculars.
  • IC 405 – Flaming Star Nebula showing the “smoke” of reflection nebula; use an OIII or H-Beta filter if possible.

Named Stars

  • Capella (Alpha Aur)
  • Menkalinan (Beta Aur)
  • Al Anz (Epsilon Aur)
  • Haedi (Zeta Aur)
  • Hoedus II (Eta Aur)
  • Hassaleh (Iota Aur)

Others

  • Photo of the constellation – Auriga, as it appears to the naked-eye (Lines have been added for clarity.)
  • Sky Chart – Auriga
  • List of stars in Auriga.

 

Back to  The 88 Constellations Lists page.

 

 

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