Star
Menkalinan
White star · A2V
β Aurigae · Auriga
Shown in its true colour — like most stars, it is too far away to photograph as more than a point of light.
Beta Aurigae is a binary star system in the northern constellation of Auriga. Its identifier is a Bayer designation that is Latinized from β Aurigae, and abbreviated Beta Aur or β Aur. This star has the official name Menkalinan, pronounced. The combined apparent visual magnitude of the system is 1.9, making it the second-brightest member of the constellation after Capella. Dynamical parallax measurements yield a distance of 24.299 ± 0.015 parsecs. It is drifting closer to the Sun with a radial velocity of −18 km/s.
Description from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).
In your sky
Share your location to see where this is in your sky right now.
Key facts
Distance
~81.1 light-years
Apparent mag.
+1.90
Spectral type
A2V
Luminosity
93.6 × Sun
Absolute mag.
−0.08
Catalogue
HIP 28360
Spectral type
A2V
True colour from its B–V index (0.08): a surface around 9200 K.
Did you know
- Menkalinan is also known as β Aurigae.
- Its spectral type A2V marks it as a white star.
- It lies in the constellation Auriga.
