Star profile
Capella
Alpha Aurigae · Auriga
Red giantWhat is Capella
Capella is the great yellow giant of Auriga, the sixth-brightest star in the night sky and an unmistakable beacon of the northern hemisphere. About 43 light-years away, its Latin name means «the little she-goat» and Roman skywatchers tied it to Amaltea, the goat who nursed the infant Zeus. Its warm golden glow — in truth a blend of several stars the unaided eye cannot separate — takes barely four decades to reach an observer looking up tonight.
Where it is and when to see it
Capella lies in the northern celestial hemisphere. It is one of the brightest stars in the sky: visible even from a city. Its best month of the year is December: the Sun sits at the opposite point of the sky and the star culminates around midnight. How high it climbs above the horizon depends on the latitude you watch from.
It opens in your browser. Free, no account, nothing to install.
The signature wall
Stelvia's sky works like a signature wall: anyone can leave their name and a message on a real star, and that signature goes up on the map for everyone to read. Signing is free.
A signature without a lock can be replaced by someone else's. The lock makes the signature permanent and lets you choose a symbolic name for the star, always shown next to the star's catalogue identifier. How the lock works
If you don't have an account yet, we'll ask for an email to confirm it's you: we send you a link and that's it, no password.
A public signature from a real person. The chosen name is a symbolic denomination within Stelvia, with no official standing or IAU recognition: the sky is not for sale and belongs to no one.
Astronomical data for Capella
- Constellation
- Auriga
- Apparent magnitude
- 0.08
- Distance
- 42.8 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 79.172° · Dec 45.998°
- Catalogue
- HIP 24608 · HD 34029
A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.
Other stars in Auriga
Auriga has 76 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- HYG 1183600.96
- MenkalinanBeta Aurigae1.90
- MahasimTheta Aurigae2.65
- HassalehIota Aurigae2.69
- AlmaazEpsilon Aurigae3.03
- HaedusEta Aurigae3.18
- SaclateniZeta Aurigae3.69
- Delta Aurigae3.72