Capella is the brightest star in the constellation Auriga, the sixth brightest in the night sky and the third brightest in the northern celestial hemisphere, after Arcturus and Vega. Its name is derived from the diminutive of the Latin capra "goat", hence "little goat".
Capella is the brightest star that is the same yellow colour as the sun. It is the brightest yellow star in our sky visible to the naked eye, and is about 42 light years away.
But did you know....
Although it appears to be a single star to the naked eye, it is actually a star system of four stars in two binary pairs. The first pair consists of two bright, large type-G giant stars, both with a radius around 10 times that of the Sun and two and a half times its mass, in close orbit around each other.
The second pair, around 10,000 astronomical units from the first, consists of two faint, small and relatively cool red dwarfs.
Capella is the brightest star that is the same yellow colour as the sun. It is the brightest yellow star in our sky visible to the naked eye, and is about 42 light years away.
But did you know....
Although it appears to be a single star to the naked eye, it is actually a star system of four stars in two binary pairs. The first pair consists of two bright, large type-G giant stars, both with a radius around 10 times that of the Sun and two and a half times its mass, in close orbit around each other.
The second pair, around 10,000 astronomical units from the first, consists of two faint, small and relatively cool red dwarfs.