Auriga (constellation)

Auriga (Latin for charioteer) is a northern constellation. It was one of the 48 constellations listed by Ptolemy, and counts as one of the 88 modern constellations. Its brightest star is Capella, which is associated with the mythological she-goat Amalthea. The three stars Epsilon, Zeta and Eta Aurigae are called Haedi (the Kids).

Notable features

Two peculiar binary stars, ε Aurigae and ζ Aurigae. ε Aurigae is one of the strangest binary stars. The orbital period is about 27 years, with an eclipse duration of about 18 months. The visible companion is a yellowish (F-class) supergiant. The type of the other star is not known. ζ Aurigae has a period of 970 days, the primary is a (K-class) supergiant and the secondary is a (B-class) main sequence star. Both these systems present a rare stage of binary evolution, as the components are in a short and active evolutionary stage.

Notable deep sky objects

Auriga contains three bright open clusters, M36, M37 and M38. Two other open clusters are NGC 2281, lying close to Psi7 Aurigae, and NGC 1664, which is close to Epsilon Aurigae It also has IC 405, known as the Flaming Star Nebula, found a few degrees to the right of M38. AE Aurigae is a bright variable star within the Flaming Star Nebula.

Mythology

The constellation may date back to Babylonian times as Rukubi, the chariot. The Romans identified this constellation with Erichthonius, the lame son of Vulcan (whom the Greeks referred to as Hephaestus) and Minerva (whom the Greeks referred to as Athena), who invented the four-horse chariot.

Before the classical era, it was also identified as a chariot and its driver, which, considering its fainter stars visible to the naked eye, it resembles. However, the driver was considered to be a shepherd, usually one which had flung a goat over its left shoulder (due to the resemblance of that area to a lump), and had its kids (two bright stars) nearby.

Together with the area of the sky that is deserted (now considered as the new and extremely faint constellations Camelopardalis and Lynx), and the other features of the area in the Zodiac sign of Gemini (i.e. the Milky Way, and the constellations Gemini, Orion, and Canis Major), this may be the origin of the myth of the cattle of Geryon, which forms one of The Twelve Labours of Heracles.

Graphic visualization

The stars of the constellation Auriga can be connected in an alternative way, which graphically shows the charioteer's head wearing a pointy cap and facing towards Perseus.

Stars Alpha Aurigae, Beta Aurigae, Theta Aurigae, Iota Aurigae, and Eta Aurigae form the charioteer's head: with Alpha Aurigae being of magnitude zero, Beta Aurigae being of magnitude two, and the rest of the stars being of magnitude three. Star Alpha Aurigae may be taken to represent the charioteer's eye, whereas star Iota Aurigae represents the charioteer's chin.

Stars Beta Aurigae, Delta Aurigae, and Alpha Aurigae form the charioteer's pointy cap, with Delta Aurigae being the top of the cap.

Finally, the stars Alpha Aurigae, Epsilon Aurigae, Zeta Aurigae, and Eta Aurigae form the charioteer's nose: Eta Aurigae being of the third magnitude.

Reference

H. A. Rey, The Stars — A New Way To See Them. Enlarged World-Wide Edition. Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1997. ISBN 0-395-24830-2.

Notable and named stars

Latin capella is the diminutive feminine of goat
Alhajoth is probably an Arabized form of the Greek αίξ, aige, meaning "ram"
spectroscopic binary

< منكب ذي العنان mankib ðī-l-^{c^inān} Shoulder of the rein holder (charioteer)
eclipsing spectroscopic binary

Hassaleh in Becvar
< كعب ذي العنان ka^{c^{b ðī l-^{c^inān}}} The ankle of the rein holder (charioteer)

< الماعز al-mā^{c^z} The (billy) goat
long period eclipsing binary

< hædus The kid (plural hædi with ζ Aurigae)

< الساعد الثاني as-sā^{c^{id aθ-θānī/at-tānī}} The second arm
< hædus The kid (plural hædi with η Aurigae)
eclipsing binary

< प्रजापति prajā pati ? Lord of creation

semiregular variable

binary star; component magnitudes: 6.09, 6.82

Cepheid variable

eclipsing binary

eclipsing binary

has a planet

has a planet

now designated β Tauri

BD	F	Names and other designations	Mag.	Ly away	Comments
α	13	Capella, Alpha Aurigae, Alhajoth, Alhaior, Althaiot, Alhaiset, Alhatod, Alhojet, Alanac, Alanat, Alioc	0.08	42.2
β	34	Beta Aurigae, Menkalinan, Menkalina	1.90	82.1
θ	37	Theta Aurigae, Bogardus	2.65	173
ι	3	Iota Aurigae, Kabdhilinan, Hassaleh	2.69	512
ε	7	Epsilon Aurigae, Almaaz, Maaz, Al Anz	3.03	2000
η	10	Eta Aurigae, Haedus II, Hoedus II	3.18	219
ζ	8	Zeta Aurigae, Sadatoni, Saclateni, Haedus I, Hoedus I	3.69	790
δ	33	Delta Aurigae, Prijipati	3.72	140
ν	32	Nu Aurigae	3.97	215
π	35	Pi Aurigae	4.30	840
κ	44	Kappa Aurigae	4.32	169
τ	29	Tau Aurigae	4.51	213
	16	16 Aurigae	4.54
λ	15	Lambda Aurigae	4.69	79.1
χ	25	Chi Aurigae	4.71	>2000
υ	31	Upsilon Aurigae	4.72	475
	2	2 Aurigae	4.79
ψ²	50	Psi2 Aurigae	4.80	433
μ	11	Mu Aurigae	4.82	162
	1	1 Aurigae	4.89
	63	63 Aurigae	4.91
ψ¹	46	Psi1 Aurigae	4.92	>2000
	4	4 Aurigae	4.93
ξ	30	Xi Aurigae	4.96	241
	9	9 Aurigae	4.98
ψ⁷	58	Psi7 Aurigae	4.99	364
	14	14 Aurigae	5.01
σ	21	Sigma Aurigae	5.02	514
ψ⁴	55	Psi4 Aurigae	5.04	306
	19	19 Aurigae	5.05
φ	24	Phi Aurigae	5.08	401
	65	65 Aurigae	5.12
ρ	20	Rho Aurigae	5.22	642
ψ⁶	57	Psi6 Aurigae	5.22	424
	66	66 Aurigae	5.23
ψ⁵	56	Psi5 Aurigae	5.24	53.9
	49	49 Aurigae	5.26
ψ³	52	Psi3 Aurigae	5.34	760
	45	45 Aurigae	5.34
	40	40 Aurigae	5.35
	26	26 Aurigae	5.40
		UU Aurigae	5.40	1810
ο	27	Omicron Aurigae	5.46	482
	41	41 Aurigae	5.64
	51	51 Aurigae	5.70
	36	36 Aurigae	5.71
	48	RT Aurigae	5.75	1560
	53	53 Aurigae	5.76
		WW Aurigae	5.82	275
ψ⁹		Psi9 Aurigae	5.85	826
	64	64 Aurigae	5.87
	47	47 Aurigae	5.88
	39	39 Aurigae	5.90
	5	5 Aurigae	5.95
		AE Aurigae	5.99	1460
	54	54 Aurigae	6.02
	62	62 Aurigae	6.02
	38	38 Aurigae	6.08
	59	59 Aurigae	6.10
	17	AR Aurigae	6.15	398
	60	60 Aurigae	6.32
	43	43 Aurigae	6.33
	22	22 Aurigae	6.45
ψ⁸	61	Psi8 Aurigae	6.46	830
	6	6 Aurigae	6.46
	42	42 Aurigae	6.53
	18	18 Aurigae	6.49
	12	12 Aurigae	6.9
		HD 45350	7.88	160
		HD 49674	8.10	134
γ		Gamma Aurigae

Source: The Bright Star Catalogue, 5th Revised Ed., The Hipparcos Catalogue, ESA SP-1200

External links

Auriga constellation

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