Charioteer of the skies

The constellation Auriga is dominated by the bright star Capella and looks like a distorted pentagon. The name Auriga is Latin for 'charioteer' - its stars form a shape that was thought to resemble the helmet of a charioteer. Photo taken on an Olympus Camedia 2040Z piggy-backed on the telescope.

Capella (Alpha Aurigae) below is the brightest star in Auriga and the third brightest star in the northern hemisphere, after Arcturus and Vega. Although it appears to be a single star visually, spectroscopic observations have revealed that it is actually a star system of four stars in two binary pairs Capella means "small goat" - Auriga is usually pictured as a charioteer wielding a whip in one hand and holding a goat (Capella) and her two kids in the other. Photo taken afocally using a 10mm eyepiece on the telescope.

Eta Aurigae and Zeta Aurigae below are the 'kids' of Capella's goat. Epsilon Aurigae at the top is an unusual eclipsing binary system - it brightens then dims every 700 days due to being obscured by a huge dark disk orbiting an unknown object. Photo below taken afocally using a 10mm eyepiece on the telescope.

Menkalinan (Beta Aurigae) below is actually a ternary (triple) star system, although the light that the star system releases forges the appearance of a single star in the night sky. The third star, Beta Aurigae C, is a red dwarf star that is invisible to the naked eye. Photo taken afocally using a 10mm eyepiece on the telescope.