Capella
Yellow giant binary · Alpha Aurigae
Brightest star in Auriga
Though it looks like a single golden point, Capella is actually a close pair of yellow giant stars orbiting each other, and it is the most northerly first-magnitude star in the sky.
Also on: The brightest stars in the night sky · Named stars, A to Z · Stars in Auriga
Illustration generated from temperature, not a photograph
5,272 K
surface · yellow dwarf, like our Sun
42 ly
from Earth
0.1
apparent magnitude
Visible to the naked eyeno equipment needed · apparent magnitude 0.1
Its light has been travelling 42 years to reach us, so you see Capella as it was 42 years ago.
It lives in
Milky Way
Barred spiral galaxy.
Other notable stars in the Milky Way
Eta CarinaeLuminous blue variableAlnilamBlue supergiantVY Canis MajorisRed hypergiantAlnitakHot blue supergiantDenebBlue-white supergiantMintakaHot blue giant multiple star
Worlds in the same direction on the sky→