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| Abbreviation: Aur |
| English Name: The Charioteer |
| Genitive: 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 and February (This constellation of Auriga stays in the sky all the year.) (map) |
| Seen between: October and March |
| Right Ascension (RA): 06 hour |
| Declination (DEC): +40 degrees |
| Area (square degrees): 657 (21st) |
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Auriga (The Charioteer)
- A large constellation – containing the brightest star, Capella (Alpha Aurigae).
o - The sixth brightest star in the night sky, at magnitude +0.1.
o - To the naked-eye, it’s appearing yellow; consisting of two yellow-coloured giants stars that orbit each other every 104 days.
o - Capella is circumpolar anywhere north of 50 degrees latitude.
o - The Milky Way passes through it, so the area contains several Open Clusters – Messier 36, Messier 37 and Messier 38.
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Messier Objects in Auriga
| M36 – Small bright Open Cluster, readily visible in binoculars. (photo) |
| 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. (photo) |
| M38 – Slightly fainter than M36, but is larger – sometimes be resolved with binoculars. (photo) |
Other objects in Auriga
| Select Catalog | No of Objects |
| Barnard (B) | 9x objects |
| Caldwell (C) | 1x object |
| Collinder (Cr) | 18x objects |
| New General Catalogue (NGC) | 25x objects |
| Index Catalogue (IC) | 15x objects |
| Sharpless (Sh2) | 20x objects |
Features of Interest
- NGC2281 – an other Open Cluster visible in binoculars.
o - IC 405 – Flaming Star Nebula showing the “smoke” of reflection nebula; use an OIII or H-Beta filter if possible.
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Named Stars
- Capella (Alpha Aur)
- Menkalinan (Beta Aur)
- Al Anz (Epsilon Aur)
- Haedi (Zeta Aur)
- Hoedus II (Eta Aur)
- Hassaleh (Iota Aur)
- more list of stars in Auriga
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Planetarium / Constellation Map
| Live constellation visible from the UK :- Planetarium (Auriga) | Best Seen in: January and February (map) | Seen between: October and March |
IAU Sky Chart: Auriga
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Constellations – Visible from the UK
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Parts visible from the UK
| Antlia | Columba | Eridanus | Fornax | Microscopium | ||
| Piscis Austrinus | Puppis | Pyxis | Sagittarius | Scorpius | ||
| Sculptor |
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Constellations: Southern Celestial Hemisphere
…..– never seen from the UK
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Back to …Constellation Names
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