What is the Auriga?

Auriga looks like a large hexagon spread over some 15º of the sky. The brightest star, Capella, is a dazzling yellow-white giant star and one of the three brightest in the northern hemisphere. Capella contrasts nicely with the blue-white Menkalinan. The showpieces of Auriga are the consecutive open star clusters M36, M37, and M38, all of which are about 4,200 light years away. But that’s where the similarity ends. M37 and M38 are about the same size, but M38 resolves into individual stars much easier than the denser M37 in a small telescope or good pair of binoculars. M36 is the smallest and youngest of the trio, and, with optics, presents a lovely arrangement of blue white stars. Auriga has been identified with various figures in Greek mythology, such as Erichthonius, a king of Athens who invented the four-horse chariot; Hippolytus, the son of Theseus who was killed in a chariot accident; and Myrtilus, the charioteer of King Oenomaus of Pisa who cursed the family of Pelops before his death.

The post What is the Auriga? appeared first on interaksyonph.