Star profile
26 Aurigae
What is 26 Aurigae
26 Aurigae is a double system in the Charioteer, where two stars of different natures share a single point of light: one more yellow and evolved, the other whiter and younger. The distance, poorly constrained by parallax, places the pair around five hundred light-years away. What is seen from here is the sum of two distinct spectra that the eye can never split apart.
Where it is and when to see it
26 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.
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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
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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 26 Aurigae
- Constellation
- Auriga
- Apparent magnitude
- 5.40
- Distance
- 566.3 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 84.659° · Dec 30.492°
- Catalogue
- HIP 26536 · HD 37269
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.
- CapellaAlpha Aurigae0.08
- HYG 1183600.96
- MenkalinanBeta Aurigae1.90
- Psi 3 Aurigae5.34
- 40 Aurigae5.35
- HIP 247995.38
- HIP 315795.40
- HIP 249025.46