Auriga

Auriga (abbreviation: Aur), the Charioteer (possibly Erechthonius, son of Vulcan), is among the brightest of northern constellations. It lies midway between Perseus and Ursa Major in a region crossed by the Milky Way, and is the site of the galactic anticenter (the point in the sky diametrically opposite the center of the Galaxy).

Gamma Aur, or El Nath, is shared with Taurus and is universally referred nowadays as Beta Tau. Epsilon Aurigae and Zeta Aurigae are remarkable eclipsing binaries. Together with Eta Aur, they make up the so-called Kids, an asterism which lies just to the south and slightly ahead of Capella (whose name means the "She-Goat"). The most northerly of the trio, Epsilon, is a late addition; in antiquity Zeta and Eta were known respectively as "the western kid" and "the eastern kid." See below for details of the constellation's brightest stars and interesting deep sky objects.

Stars brighter than magnitude 4.0
star	vis mag	abs mag	spec type	distance (ly)	RA (h m s)	Dec (° ' ")
Alpha (Capella)	0.08	-0.48	G5IIIe+G0III	42	05 16 41	+45 59 53
Beta (Menkalinan)	1.90	-0.11	A2IV	82	05 59 32	+44 56 51
Theta	2.65	-0.98	A0IIIpSi+G2V	173	05 59 43	+37 12 45
Iota (Hassaleh)	2.69	-3.29	K3II	512	04 57 00	+33 09 58
Epsilon Aurigae	3.03v	-5.95	F0Iae	2,040	05 01 58	+43 49 24
Eta	3.18	-0.96	B3V	219	05 06 31	+41 14 04
Delta	3.72	0.55	K0III	141	05 59 32	+54 17 05
Zeta Aurigae	3.69v	-3.23	K4II+B8V	789	05 02 29	+41 04 33

Other objects of interest
name	type of object	notes
AE Aur	star	See also runaway star
RT Aur	star	A Cepheid variable; magnitude range 5.4 to 6.6, period 3.7 days
T Aur	star	Nova 1882; reached magnitude 4.1, now at 15.8. Discovered by the Scottish amateur astronomer, T. D. Anderson
Flaming Star Nebula	diffuse nebula	IC 405. See separate entry
IC 410	diffuse nebula	Resembles the Rosette Nebula, with a small embedded open cluster, NGC 1893, and a dark patch of obscuring dust at its center. RA 05h 22m, Dec +33° 27'
M36 (NGC 1960)	open cluster	About 60 stars. Magnitude 6.3; diameter 12'; RA 05h 32m, Dec +34° 7'
M37 (NGC 2099)	open cluster	About 500 stars, some 150 of which shine at magnitude 12.5 or brighter. Magnitude 6.2; diameter 20'; RA 05h 49m, Dec.+32° 32'
M38 (NGC 1912)	open cluster	A cruciform-shaped cluster, located near both the Flaming Star and IC 410. Magnitude 7.4; diameter 20'; RA 05h 25m, Dec +35° 48'