Phi Aurigae, Latinized from φ Aurigae, is a giant star in the northern

constellation A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms Asterism (astronomy), a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object. The origins of the e ...

Auriga AURIGA (''Antenna Ultracriogenica Risonante per l'Indagine Gravitazionale Astronomica'') is an ultracryogenic resonant bar gravitational wave detector in Italy. It is at the Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro of the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nuclea ...

. It is faintly visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude of 5.089. It lies from another faint naked-eye star HD 35520, between the three

open cluster An open cluster is a type of star cluster made of up to a few thousand stars that were formed from the same giant molecular cloud and have roughly the same age. More than 1,100 open clusters have been discovered within the Milky Way galaxy, and ...

s M36 and M38, and

NGC 1893 NGC 1893 is an open cluster in the constellation Auriga. It is about 12,400 light years away. The star cluster is embedded in the HII region IC 410. Images of the star cluster by the Chandra X-ray Observatory suggest that it contains approximate ...

. The distance to this star, as determined from

parallax Parallax is a displacement or difference in the apparent position of an object viewed along two different lines of sight and is measured by the angle or semi-angle of inclination between those two lines. Due to foreshortening, nearby objects ...

measurements, is approximately with a 10 light-year margin of error. This is an

evolved Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation t ...

giant star with a

stellar classification In astronomy, stellar classification is the classification of stars based on their stellar spectrum, spectral characteristics. Electromagnetic radiation from the star is analyzed by splitting it with a Prism (optics), prism or diffraction grati ...

of K3 IIIp and an estimated radius equal to 16 times the radius of the Sun. The outer envelope has an

effective temperature The effective temperature of a body such as a star or planet is the temperature of a black body that would emit the same total amount of electromagnetic radiation. Effective temperature is often used as an estimate of a body's surface temperature ...

of 4,367 K, giving it the cool orange-hued glow of a K-type star.

References

External links

HR 1805

CCDM J05277+3429

Image Phi Aurigae
{{DEFAULTSORT:Phi Aurigae 035620 058051 Aurigae, Phi Auriga (constellation) K-type giants Aurigae, 24

1805 After thirteen years the First French Empire abolished the French Republican Calendar in favour of the Gregorian calendar. Events January–March * January 11 – The Michigan Territory is created. * February 7 – King Anouvong become ...

BD+34 1048