Auriga
Main Stars: 7
Position in the Sky
- Right Ascension: 6 hours
- Declination: 40 degrees
- Visible between latitudes 90 and -40 degrees
- Best seen in February (at 9:00 PM)
Named Stars
- Capella (Alpha Aur)
- Menkalinan (Beta Aur)
- Al Anz (Epsilon Aur)
- Haedi (Zeta Aur)
- Hoedus ll (Eta Aur)
- Hassaleh (Iota Aur)
Messier Objects
- M36: Open cluster
- M37: Open cluster, brightest in Auriga
- M38: Open cluster, shape of greek Pi or a cross can be seen
Meteor Showers
- Alpha Aurigids - Range from August 25 to September 6 with maximum occurring on September 1. Hourly Zenith Rate is about 9.
- Delta Aurigids - Run between September 22 to October 23 with maximum occurring between October 6-15. HZR varies, possibley around 1 or less per hour.
Mythology
Greeks viewed the constellation of Auriga in light of the Athenian king Erichthonius. Erichthonious was the son of the god of fire, Hephaestus, and was raised by Athene. Athene taught Erichthonius to tame horses, and he became the first to attach four horses to a chariot., in imitation of the four-horse chariot of the sun. This won the admiration of Zeus, and Erichthonioius was promised a place among the stars.
There is yet another story embedded within this constellation. Capella, the brightest star in Auriga, and the sixth brightest in the sky, translates to"the she goat". The star represents Amaltheia, the goat that suckled the infant Zeus. The triangle of stars formed by Zeta, Eta and Epsiloni Aurigae are known as "the kids".
I've read that some early writers spoke of the Goat and Kids as seperate constellations, but since the time of Ptolemy they have been combined with the Charioteer, with the goat resting on his shoulder, and his arm supporting the kids.
Greeks viewed the constellation of Auriga in light of the Athenian king Erichthonius. Erichthonious was the son of the god of fire, Hephaestus, and was raised by Athene. Athene taught Erichthonius to tame horses, and he became the first to attach four horses to a chariot., in imitation of the four-horse chariot of the sun. This won the admiration of Zeus, and Erichthonioius was promised a place among the stars.
There is yet another story embedded within this constellation. Capella, the brightest star in Auriga, and the sixth brightest in the sky, translates to"the she goat". The star represents Amaltheia, the goat that suckled the infant Zeus. The triangle of stars formed by Zeta, Eta and Epsiloni Aurigae are known as "the kids".
I've read that some early writers spoke of the Goat and Kids as seperate constellations, but since the time of Ptolemy they have been combined with the Charioteer, with the goat resting on his shoulder, and his arm supporting the kids.
Features
It is easiest to locate Auriga by first locating Taurus. The tip of Taurus' right horn, Alnath, begins the bottom left of Auriga. From this point, it is easy to connect-the-stars and visualize the hexagon. I cannot offer any easy way to star hop to the three Messier objects, M36-38 other than that if you start with Alnath, and move upward about halfway to Theta Aurigae, you can move left and right to stumble upon the clusters. Even at 48x, you;ll know when you see one of the clusters. I will add that during my first outing viewing these objects, I had a difficult time confirming if I was seeing M36 or M38 because of nearby NGC 1907 (which can be seen in the same FOV). M38 though is certainly a highlight, consisting of about 100 stars under magnitude 7.9.
Capella, the sixth brightest star in the sky is actually a quadruple star system (two binaries). Near Capella is the northernmost star of "the kids", Epsilon Aurigae. This is one of the most fascinating stars in the sky. Scientists still do not agree on the nature of this binary star. Every 27 years the star enters a long and slow eclipse during which it dims from a magnitude 3 to 3.8. It is agreed that it is an eclipsing binary, but the secondary star appears to have no affect on the light of Epsilon Aurigae. Theories to explain the eclipse suggest that a disc of semi-transparent dust and gas pass between our view and the star.
It is easiest to locate Auriga by first locating Taurus. The tip of Taurus' right horn, Alnath, begins the bottom left of Auriga. From this point, it is easy to connect-the-stars and visualize the hexagon. I cannot offer any easy way to star hop to the three Messier objects, M36-38 other than that if you start with Alnath, and move upward about halfway to Theta Aurigae, you can move left and right to stumble upon the clusters. Even at 48x, you;ll know when you see one of the clusters. I will add that during my first outing viewing these objects, I had a difficult time confirming if I was seeing M36 or M38 because of nearby NGC 1907 (which can be seen in the same FOV). M38 though is certainly a highlight, consisting of about 100 stars under magnitude 7.9.
Capella, the sixth brightest star in the sky is actually a quadruple star system (two binaries). Near Capella is the northernmost star of "the kids", Epsilon Aurigae. This is one of the most fascinating stars in the sky. Scientists still do not agree on the nature of this binary star. Every 27 years the star enters a long and slow eclipse during which it dims from a magnitude 3 to 3.8. It is agreed that it is an eclipsing binary, but the secondary star appears to have no affect on the light of Epsilon Aurigae. Theories to explain the eclipse suggest that a disc of semi-transparent dust and gas pass between our view and the star.
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| Auriga with M36-38 enlarged |
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