Star profile
Pi Aurigae
Variable starWhat is Pi Aurigae
Pi Aurigae is a variable red giant at 752 light-years, throbbing slowly high in the Charioteer. Its coppery hue betrays an aged star, its atmosphere so vast that the brightness shifts in long cycles while the star itself breathes. Every pulse we catch tonight actually happened more than seven centuries ago, well before Cervantes was born, while Arab astronomers were still refining their star catalogues by candlelight.
Where it is and when to see it
Pi 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 84° up.
- From New York it culminates about 85° above the horizon.
- From Sydney it culminates about 10° above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere north of 44° S.
It ranks no. 11 in brightness among the 76 stars of Auriga in our catalogue. To find it, start from Capella, the brightest: it lies about 8° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 750 years ago.
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Astronomical data for Pi Aurigae
- Constellation
- Auriga
- Apparent magnitude
- 4.30
- Distance
- 751.6 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 89.984° · Dec 45.937°
- Catalogue
- HIP 28404 · HD 40239
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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
- SaclateniZeta Aurigae3.69
- Delta Aurigae3.72
- Nu Aurigae3.97
- Kappa Aurigae4.32
- Tau Aurigae4.51