Star profile
Tau Aurigae
What is Tau Aurigae
Tau Aurigae inhabits the Charioteer, that pentagonal northern winter constellation that seems to cradle a goat and two kids on its arm. It is a yellow G-type star, a spectral cousin of the Sun but lying 207 light-years away, which gives a sense of how much larger and more luminous it is to register from such a distance with its modest gleam. Its warm tone recalls a candle in the night, a friendly bonfire among the cooler and hotter stars surrounding it.
Where it is and when to see it
Tau 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 Tau Aurigae
- Constellation
- Auriga
- Apparent magnitude
- 4.51
- Distance
- 206.8 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 87.294° · Dec 39.181°
- Catalogue
- HIP 27483 · HD 38656
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
- Nu Aurigae3.97
- Pi Aurigae4.30
- Kappa Aurigae4.32
- 16 Aurigae4.54
- Lambda Aurigae4.69