Star profile
Xi Aurigae
What is Xi Aurigae
Xi Aurigae sits in the body of the Charioteer, not far from dazzling Capella. A white type A star some 238 light-years away, its cold, intense light is typical of stars that burn with surface temperatures well above the Sun's. It belongs to the discreet fabric that fills the pentagonal figure of the Charioteer, the winter constellation whose bright vertices have been used for centuries to find one's bearings on cold northern nights.
Where it is and when to see it
Xi 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 Xi Aurigae
- Constellation
- Auriga
- Apparent magnitude
- 4.96
- Distance
- 238.3 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 88.712° · Dec 55.707°
- Catalogue
- HIP 27949 · HD 39283
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
- 63 Aurigae4.91
- Psi 1 Aurigae4.92
- Omega Aurigae4.93
- 9 Aurigae4.98
- Psi 7 Aurigae4.99