Omicron Aurigae, a white main-sequence star in Auriga
Omicron Aurigae is a white main-sequence star in the constellation Auriga. At 398 light years away, it shines at an apparent visual magnitude of 5.46.
Omicron Aurigae (HIP 27196)
Omicron Aurigae is a white main-sequence star in the constellation Auriga. At 398 light years away, it shines at an apparent visual magnitude of 5.46. It is moving through the Galaxy at a speed of 7.9 km/s relative to the Sun.
Sky position: RA 5h 45.9m, Dec +49° 49.6'
Common designations: Omicron Aurigae, 27 Aurigae, HR 1971, HD 38104, HIP 27196, Gaia DR3 214125598839477632
Omicron Aurigae has the spectral type A2VpCr. A-type stars are white stars with surface temperatures of roughly 7,500 to 10,000 K. Their spectra are dominated by strong hydrogen lines, and many of them rotate rapidly. Its luminosity class V means it is a main-sequence (dwarf) star, still fusing hydrogen into helium in its core like the Sun.
How to find Omicron Aurigae in the sky
Omicron Aurigae lies in Auriga. With a declination of +49° 49.6', it is visible from the entire Northern Hemisphere and from the Southern Hemisphere down to about latitude 40° S. Observers poleward of latitude 40° N see it as circumpolar: it never sets. It is bright enough to see with the naked eye under dark skies. It is highest in the sky at local midnight around January, which makes the weeks around that month the best time to observe it.
Tabulated data for Omicron Aurigae
Astrometry and spectroscopy
| Right Ascension (J2000) | 86.47517483° (5h 45.9m) |
| Declination (J2000) | 49.82627104° (+49° 49.6') |
| Galactic Longitude | 161.97898390° |
| Galactic Latitude | 10.74635346° |
| Proper motion RA | -11.09 mas/yr |
| Proper motion Dec | 3.70 mas/yr |
| Parallax | 8.19 ± 0.26 mas |
| Spectral Type | A2VpCr |
| Radial Velocity | -4.01 km/s |
Photometry
| Band | Magnitude | Abs. Mag. |
|---|---|---|
| B | 5.50 | 0.06 |
| V | 5.46 | 0.03 |
| J | 5.32 | -0.12 |
| H | 5.35 | -0.09 |
| K | 5.31 | -0.12 |
Colour index B-V: +0.04
Derivations
- Heliocentric distance: 122.14 pc (398 light years) (3.2% margin of error)
- Absolute visual magnitude: 0.03
- Transverse velocity: 6.8 km/s
- Space velocity relative to the Sun: 7.9 km/s
- Galactic position (X, Y, Z): -114.1 pc, 37.1 pc, 22.8 pc
- Galactic velocity (U, V, W): 4.5 km/s, 3.8 km/s, -5.2 km/s
Data: Extended Hipparcos Compilation (XHIP) and SIMBAD.