Star profile
Kappa Aurigae
What is Kappa Aurigae
Kappa Aurigae shines 177 light-years away in Auriga, not far from the brilliant trail of Capella. It is a yellow G-type giant —similar in colour to our Sun, but already swollen and far more luminous— a glimpse of what our own star may become billions of years from now. Its golden light filters through the edge of a celestial pentagon that the Greeks tied to Erichthonius, the charioteer.
Where it is and when to see it
Kappa 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 Kappa Aurigae
- Constellation
- Auriga
- Apparent magnitude
- 4.32
- Distance
- 177.0 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 93.845° · Dec 29.498°
- Catalogue
- HIP 29696 · HD 43039
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
- Delta Aurigae3.72
- Nu Aurigae3.97
- Pi Aurigae4.30
- Tau Aurigae4.51
- 16 Aurigae4.54