Capella

star · northern sky · binary system

Super bright star. Capella is the sixth-brightest star you can see from Earth at night. It's only beaten by a few other stars, and it's the third-brightest one visible from the northern half of the sky.

Named after a goat. The name Capella means 'little goat' in Latin. In ancient myths, Capella represented Amalthea, a magical goat who took care of baby Zeus.

Never sets in the north. If you live far enough north (above 44 degrees north latitude), Capella never dips below the horizon. It circles around the North Star all night long, so it's always visible.

Relatively close neighbor. Capella is only 42.9 light-years away, making it one of our closer stellar neighbors. That means its light takes about 43 years to reach us here on Earth.

Glowing in X-rays. Capella is one of the brightest sources of X-rays in the entire sky. Scientists think most of these X-rays come from the hot outer atmosphere of one of its stars.