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: 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.

Find it on the sky map

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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.

Write my signature

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 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

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.

See all 76 stars in Auriga