Capella is a quadruple star system organized in two binary pairs. The traditional name Capella is Latin for female goat; the alternative name Capra was more commonly used in classical times. The star is 42. 9 light-years from the Sun, and is one of the brightest X-ray sources in the sky, thought to come primarily from the corona of Capella Aa.
About Capella in brief
Capella is a quadruple star system organized in two binary pairs. The traditional name Capella is Latin for female goat; the alternative name Capra was more commonly used in classical times. It is listed in several multiple star catalogues as ADS 3841, CCDM J05168+4559, and WDS J05167+4600. Capella was the brightest star in the night sky from 210,000 to 160,000 years ago, at about −1. 8 in apparent magnitude. Its goat-associated symbolism dates back to Mesopotamia as a constellation called \”Gamlum GAMUL\” in the 7th-century BC. It may have represented the star alone or the constellation of Auriga as a whole. The star is 42. 9 light-years from the Sun, and is one of the brightest X-ray sources in the sky, thought to come primarily from the corona of Capella Aa. Its name means \”little goat\” in Latin, Capella depicted the goat Amalthea that suckled Zeus in classical mythology. Its steps are aligned to the rising rain of the Shepherd’s Star, which is sometimes called the Capella Star in English literature. It also has the Flamsteed designation 13 Aurigae, and the Bayer designation of α AurigAE Aa, the star system’s Bayer designation. In 2016, the International Astronomical Union organized a Working Group on Star Names to catalogue and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN’s first bulletin of July 2016 included a table of the first two batches of names approved by the W GSN; which included Capella for this star.
The catalogue of star names lists Capella as applying to the star Aurigae Aa; it is now so entered in the IAU Catalog of Star Names. The constellation Auriga was created by Bedouin astronomers that were comprised of groups of animals, where each star represented a herd of goats, also called the Bedouine Star. It was seen as a portent of rain in classical literature in the pre-Columbian Oaxaca state in Mexico. The Capella star system was built around 275 BC, at a different orientation to other structures in the complex of Monte Albán in Mexico, which was built at 275 BC. The stars are aligned in a complex of steps perpendicular to each other, with Capella on the right and the other stars on the left. The system is relatively close, at 42.9 light- years from the sun, and it is circumpolar to observers north of 44°N. It has been called the “Star of the Northern Hemisphere” by some astronomers, but it is actually a star system in its own right, not the Star of the Southern Hemisphere. It appears to be a single star to the naked eye, made up of the stars Capella H and Capella L, and a pair of faint, small and relatively cool red dwarfs. It’s listed in the Gliese-Jahreiss Catalogue.
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This page is based on the article Capella published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 22, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
