Kappa Aurigae (HIP 29696)

Kappa Aurigae is a yellow giant star in the constellation Auriga. At 179 light years away, it shines at an apparent visual magnitude of 4.35. It is moving through the Galaxy at a speed of 73.3 km/s relative to the Sun.

Sky position: RA 6h 15.4m, Dec +29° 29.9'

Common designations: Kappa Aurigae, 44 Aurigae, HR 2219, HD 43039, Gaia DR3 3436911415277140224, HIP 29696

Kappa Aurigae has the spectral type G8.5IIIb. G-type stars are yellow stars of about 5,300 to 6,000 K, the same class as the Sun. Their spectra show strong lines of ionized calcium and many metals. Its luminosity class III marks it as a giant: an evolved star that has left the main sequence and swollen to many times its original size.

How to find Kappa Aurigae in the sky

Kappa Aurigae lies in Auriga. With a declination of +29° 29.9', it is visible from the entire Northern Hemisphere and from the Southern Hemisphere down to about latitude 61° S. 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 Kappa Aurigae

Astrometry and spectroscopy

Right Ascension (J2000)	93.84453491° (6h 15.4m)
Declination (J2000)	29.49807648° (+29° 29.9')
Galactic Longitude	182.72689693°
Galactic Latitude	5.92041262°
Proper motion RA	-72.40 mas/yr
Proper motion Dec	-261.10 mas/yr
Parallax	18.27 ± 0.16 mas
Spectral Type	G8.5IIIb
Radial Velocity	20.74 km/s

Photometry

Band	Magnitude	Abs. Mag.
U	6.17	2.48
B	5.36	1.67
V	4.35	0.66
R	3.55	-0.14
I	3.01	-0.68
J	2.57	-1.12
H	2.05	-1.64
K	1.92	-1.77

Colour index B-V: +1.01

Derivations

Heliocentric distance: 54.73 pc (179 light years) (0.9% margin of error)
Absolute visual magnitude: 0.66
Transverse velocity: 70.3 km/s
Space velocity relative to the Sun: 73.3 km/s
Galactic position (X, Y, Z): -54.4 pc, -2.6 pc, 5.6 pc
Galactic velocity (U, V, W): -23.2 km/s, -52.2 km/s, -45.9 km/s

Data: Extended Hipparcos Compilation (XHIP) and SIMBAD.