Star profile

Rho Aurigae

Hot blue star

3D likeness based on its real data · class B · ~15,000 K

What is Rho Aurigae

Rho Aurigae is a hot blue-white star sparkling in the outskirts of the Charioteer, more than five hundred light-years away. Its surface exceeds twelve thousand degrees, the mark of a still vigorous youth, and it is moving away from the Sun at speeds that will leave traces in the astrometric catalogues of the next millennium. The light we now see set out when the Catholic Monarchs were signing the Granada Capitulations.

Where it is and when to see it

Rho Aurigae lies in the northern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is December, when it culminates around midnight.

From London it never sets and culminates about 80° up.
From New York it culminates about 89° above the horizon.
From Sydney it culminates about 14° above the horizon.

It can be seen from anywhere north of 48° S.

It ranks no. 33 in brightness among the 76 stars of Auriga in our catalogue. To find it, start from Capella, the brightest: it lies about 4° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).

The light you see today left it about 530 years ago.

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Astronomical data for Rho Aurigae

Constellation: Auriga
Apparent magnitude: 5.22
Distance: 529.5 light years
Coordinates (J2000): RA 80.452° · Dec 41.805°
Catalogue: HIP 25048 · HD 34759

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Other stars in Auriga

Auriga has 76 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.

See all 76 stars in Auriga