The AsterNym star registry
Capella
Capella: the golden she-goat of the charioteer
golden yellow · Auriga · α Aur · sixth-brightest star in the night sky
Capella is the golden glow high in northern winter skies, in myth, the little she-goat Amalthea who nursed the infant Zeus, carried on the charioteer's shoulder ever since.
A star whose story is about nurture makes a natural dedication for the person who raised you, fed you, carried you. Whoever kept you warm before you could do it yourself.
Real star · Personal dedication · Recorded in the AsterNym registry
See what a dedicated page looks like: preview
Capella at a glance
- Constellation
- Auriga
- Other name
- α Aur
- Catalogue number
- HIP 24608
- Distance
- ≈ 43 light-years
- Brightness
- Magnitude 0.08 naked-eye
- Rank
- sixth-brightest star in the night sky
- Star type
- G3 III
- Colour
- golden yellow
- Best seen from
- The Northern Hemisphere and lower southern latitudes
- Right ascension
- 05h 16m 42s
- Declination
- +45° 59′ 53″
J2000 catalogue coordinates that can be independently cross-checked against astronomical databases. A planetarium app showing coordinates of date will differ slightly, because proper motion and precession move a star’s apparent position over time.
What kind of star is Capella?
Capella is a yellow giant. Its surface runs about 5,500°C, near enough the Sun's own surface temperature. Colour in a star is a temperature reading rather than a decoration: the hot ones are blue and the cool ones red, the opposite way round to a kitchen tap.
Its colour is not the whole story. A yellow star still in the steady part of its life would burn for about ten thousand million years. This one is past that stage, and it is cool at the surface because it has swollen outward, not because it was born this way.
It is a giant, which is what a star becomes when it exhausts the hydrogen in its core. It has swollen outward and cooled at the surface, and it is now brighter than it ever was as a young star. The Sun will do this too, in about five thousand million years.
The light you are looking at is old
The light you can see from Capella left in 1983, which puts it roughly a lifetime ago. Nobody has invented anything since then that the light knows about; it has simply been travelling.
That delay is the part people find hardest and like most. A star is the one thing you can give someone that was already old before either of you was born and will outlast anything else you could have chosen.
It is also one of the brighter stars in the sky, which is why it carries a proper name at all rather than a catalogue number.
Why is Capella special?
Capella looks like one golden star; it is two pairs, four stars in one point of light, the two brightest circling each other closer than Earth sits to the Sun.
What does the name Capella mean?
Capella is Latin for “little she-goat.” In the myth, one of Amalthea's horns became the cornucopia. The horn of plenty that never runs out.
What could a Capella dedication represent?
Capella is especially meaningful for someone who:
- · Raised you, or helped raise you
- · Gives without running out
- · Keeps the winter warm
- · Holds a family together the way this star holds four in one light
Dedication idea
“For the one who fed the best parts of me.”
Where can you see Capella?
It is easy to see from most of the Northern Hemisphere. It can also appear from lower southern latitudes, but it never rises for observers south of about latitude 44°S. It passes directly overhead at latitude 46°N. It stands highest at midnight in December, so December and January evenings are the best time to look. At magnitude 0.08 it is bright enough to hold its own over city lights.
Capella belongs to Auriga, where it is the brightest star.
What does Capella mean in astrology?
The little she-goat that suckled Zeus. Behenian, nature of Mars and Mercury: restless curiosity, quickness, and honours that come through movement and learning.
Projected onto the zodiac the way fixed-star astrology reads any star, Capella stands at 21° Gemini at the J2000 epoch, and the Sun passes that degree around 11 June in the years around 2000. Fixed-star longitude shifts slowly against the tropical zodiac because of precession, about one degree every seventy-two years, so a natal conjunction must be calculated for the birth year rather than read off this J2000 value or a calendar date.
Traditional interpretations, not facts or predictions. The position and dates are computed.
Dedicate Capella to someone who matters
A flower fades. A card is eventually put away. A star gives your message a place in the sky.
from$29.95a year
Dedicate Capella →Real star · your message · a page to share
Your Capella dedication includes
- Your chosen dedication name
- Your personal message
- Capella's real astronomical coordinates
- A shareable dedication page
- Its location on the AsterNym Galaxy Map
- An optional printable certificate and gift presentation
Capella keeps its established astronomical name. Your dedication is a personal commemorative record within the AsterNym registry.
Frequently asked questions about Capella
- What does Capella mean in astrology?
- The little she-goat that suckled Zeus. Behenian, nature of Mars and Mercury: restless curiosity, quickness, and honours that come through movement and learning. Projected onto the zodiac, Capella stands at 21° Gemini, and the Sun passes that degree each year around 11 June.
- Is Capella the brightest star?
- Capella is the sixth-brightest star in the night sky as seen from Earth. Sirius is the brightest.
- How far away is Capella?
- Capella is approximately 43 light-years from Earth. The light reaching us tonight began its journey around 43 years ago.
- Which constellation contains Capella?
- Capella is the brightest star in Auriga.
- Can everyone see Capella?
- It is easy to see from most of the Northern Hemisphere. It can also appear from lower southern latitudes, but it never rises for observers south of about latitude 44°S. It passes directly overhead at latitude 46°N. It stands highest at midnight in December, so December and January evenings are the best time to look. At magnitude 0.08 it is bright enough to hold its own over city lights.
- Is dedicating Capella an official astronomical renaming?
- No. Capella keeps its internationally recognised astronomical name. An AsterNym dedication records your personal name and message in the AsterNym registry without changing the star's scientific identity.
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