Capella
system
Capella is the sixth-brightest star in the night sky, 42.8 light-years away in Auriga — and not one star but two. Two yellow giants, Capella Aa and Ab, circle each other every 104 days, so close that no telescope splits them by eye; only their blended spectrum reveals the pair. A distant pair of red dwarfs (Capella H and L) shares the system far outside them.
Open in 3D viewSee Capella in the live, interactive 3D map
Key facts
Type
Giant binary (2 yellow giants)
Distance
42.8 light-years
Brightness
V 0.08 — 6th-brightest star
Confirmed planets
0
Science
Classification
- Type
- Spectroscopic binary of two G-type giants (+ a distant red-dwarf pair)
- Components
- Capella Aa (G8III) + Ab (G0III), ~104-day orbit
Planets
- Confirmed planets
- None
Distance
- Distance
- 42.8 light-years · the 6th-brightest star (V 0.08)
How we know
- Note
- Capella is rendered as its two giant components on their real 104-day spectroscopic orbit; the phase shown is illustrative. Its distant red-dwarf companions (H, L) are noted but not rendered. No planet is known. Map distance is symbolic; the real gap is 42.8 light-years.
Discovery & history
- Method
- Naked-eye star
- Name
- Latin for 'little she-goat'; Alpha Aurigae, brightest of the Charioteer.
A bright marker since antiquity, Capella was among the first stars found to be a spectroscopic binary (1899) and later resolved by interferometry.
Images
Images from open archives · credit shown per image