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public  Greenwich, UK Greenwich, UK  ⓘ
TimezoneEurope/London
Sunrise: 5:05 
Transit: 12:56 
Sunset: 20:48
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All Constellations » Auriga » 

τ Aurigae (tau Aurigae)

Above the horizon.  Circumpolar today
Alt: 5.79°   Az: 333.18°   Direction: North-North-West

τ Aurigae is a multiple giant star of spectral class G8 in the constellation of Auriga.

τ Aurigae visual magnitude is 4.52. Because of its moderate brightness, τ Aurigae is easily visible to the naked eye from locations with dark skies, while it might be barely visible, or not visible at all, from light-polluted skies.

Image of τ Aurigae (tau Aurigae) star
DSS2 image of τ Aurigae. The red arrow shows the motion of τ Aurigae during the next 10000 years (-4.17 arcmin in Right Ascension and -3.67 arcmin in declination);

Celestial Coordinates

Apparent

05h 50m 56s
+39° 11’ 14”
09h 38m 26s
15h 29m 22s

J2000

05h 49m 10s
+39° 10’ 51”

Galactic Coordinates

171.58°
5.91°

Finder Chart

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Finder chart for τ Aurigae (tau Aurigae).

Magnitude, Color, Spectral Class

4.52
Giant

0.45
G8III
4892K

The red dot in the diagram below shows where τ Aurigae is situated in the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram.

HR Diagram
H-R diagram showing the position of τ Aurigae. Attribution: Richard Powell / CC BY-SA

Star System Properties

τ Aurigae is a visual double star which can be observed only with the help of very large telescopes. The table below shows key information about the τ Aurigae double sysyem:

4.52
10.62
6.1
49.6 arcsec

Distance, Radial Speed, Proper Motion

τ Aurigae is distant 212.52 light years from the Sun and it is moving towards the Sun at the speed of 20 kilometers per second.

65.19
212.52
-20 km/s
-0.025 arcsec/y
-0.022"/y

Alternative Designations

τ Aurigae
(tau Aurigae)
SAO58465
SAO58465

Visibility from Your Location

τ Aurigae (tau Aurigae) is circumpolar and transits at 14:04 UTC (altitude: 77.7°)