Some time ago I wrote about the 15 brightest stars on night sky. Capella is the sixth brightest star we can see and it is located in constellation Auriga. Constellation Auriga and Capella can both be seen in winter in northern hemisphere. The constellation Auriga is in meridian in early February at 10 pm. Auriga as well as Capella is both easy to locate. This article provides you information on locating the constellation Auriga and Capella star.

Auriga is a constellation visible in northern hemisphere. It is surrounded by Taurus, Gemini, Lynx, Camelopardalis and Perseus. The brightest star of the constellation is Capella which is a binary star. The stars of the binary star system orbit each other in about 100 days. The binary star Capella is easy to observe from the Earth because the stars are located close to each other and therefore do not overlap. Other stars in constellation Auriga are Epsilon Aurigae, Zeta Aurigae and AE Aurigae.

As mentioned Capella is a binary star system. In fact, Capella is more than a binary star. It is a system of four stars. There are two red dwarfs orbiting the binary star system, and therefore Capella is seen as a system of four stars.

Capella is easy to locate. Look at the figure on left. There are Orion, Taurus, Gemini and few other constellations shown. This figure is a simulation of the night sky in my location (Helsinki, Finland) tonight at 23:30. When watching the sky from my home at this time, it should look like this. Naturally from your position it can be slightly different, so you have to take a possibility of an error into account. Anyhow, this figure should give you an idea of finding Auriga and Capella.

Look at the night sky before the midnight. First find Orion. Next locate star Saiph of Orion, the leftmost star in the “bottom” of Orion. Then locate Taurus constellation and its star Alnath, just like shown in the figure left. Now, “draw a line” from Saiph to Alnath and continue it until it “hits” a bright star, which is Capella.

Did you find it? Was this helpful? If you wish to discuss about finding Capella and Auriga or you just want to share your experience, please drop a comment. You might also be interested in getting these tips to your email. In that case, subscribe to our newsletter in top right corner of this website.