AurigaAuriga
Particulars:
General:
A quite large constellation of the northern hemisphere,
located between DECL=55 degrees and DECL=28 degrees, RA=7h 30m
and RA=4h 40m. There is no star gamma Aur. The reason for
this is that the star, which would be listed as gamma Aur
is shared with the constellation Taurus (its lying exactly
on the boundary) and is listed as beta Tau.
As the Milky Way runs through this constellation it is quite a
pleasure to view this part of the sky.
Stars and other objects
The yellow giant alpha Aur, called Capella,
is the 6th brightest star in the sky (0.08 mag). It is also a
spectroscopic binary consisting of a G5III and a G0III. They
revolve each other every 104 days.
Menkalinen, beta Aur, is also a
spectroscopic binary. Within just four days the stars complete
their revolution much faster than those of alpha Aur.
Since they are eclipsing each other the brightness of beta Aur
seems to vary.
The eclipsing binary epsilon Aur has an extradinary long
period; every 27.1 years the brightness varies from 3.0 mag down
to 3.8 mag as the brighter component is then eclipsed by the
darker companion. This eclipse lasts a full year (the last
eclipse took place in 1983). Calculations show that the dark
component of epsilon Aur has about 10 - 12 solar masses.
Because of its small size it is a good candidate for a black
hole; unfortunately this conflicts with the observed lost of
brightness during the eclipse. According to studies of Wilson
and Cameron the solution is a ring of obsuring material
which surrounds the black hole. (There is still doubt that the
companion is a black hole; a star which a 10 times smaller
brightness would fit the model, too.)
Another eclipsing binary is zeta Aur; a K4 bright giant
and a B8 main sequence star revolve each other every 2 2/3 years.
The double omega Aur can be viewed with small telescopes;
it consists of a 5th mag and a 8th mag companion.
Telescopes with an aperture of at least 100mm and a high
magnification are required to split the tight double theta Aur.
An A0psi star of 2.62 mag is accompanied by a star of 7th mag.
The planetary nebula NGC(*) 2149 (the asterix indicates
that this object can be found in the NGC supplementary catalogs
of J.L.E. Dreyer) appears as a small oval ring of 10th mag.
The diffuse nebula I 405 is also called Flaming
Star.
I 410 consists of a cluster with an nebulosity attached.
There a several open clusters in this constellations.
About 60 members belong to M36. Its a good object for the
use of binoculars. A beautiful group of stars is M38
showing an oval shape. The richest of these three Messier objects
is M37. It contains about 150 stars with magnitudes of
12.5 and brighter and about 500 in total. Detailed information
about all three Messier objects can be found in the Messier
database.
The meteor shower of the Aurigids is generally observable between
January, 31st, and February, 23rd. This shower is known for its
bright fireballs.
From August, 25th, till September 6th, the shower of the Alpha
Aurigids is active. Although the annual maximum is about 9
meteors, outbursts of up to 30 were observed in 1935 and 1986.
The Delta Aurigids may be observed between September 22nd and
Ovctober 23rd. The maximum of this shower occurs around October
6th to October 15th.
Please refer to Gary Kronk's database about meteor showers for
details about all four showers.
Mythological Background:
Auriga may represent the sea god Poseidon, dring his chariot drawn by sea horses.
