Olimpics athem

StarDate: January 5, 2003 Auriga=A0 One of the half-dozen brightest stars in the night sky is
Capella, the "she-goat." It's in the constellation Auriga, which is high overhead during the
mid-evening hours. The point of light that we call Capella is really TWO stars. Both are yellow
giants. That means they're much larger than our own star, the Sun, but their surfaces are about the
same temperature -- around 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The temperature is why the stars that form
Capella look yellow. Auriga is called the charioteer. But this charioteer has neither chariot nor
horse. Instead, he's drawn as a man holding the reins in his right hand, with a goat on his left
shoulder -- the star Capella -- and two baby goats in his left arm. The constellation has an
uncertain origin. It might represent Neptune rising from the sea in a chariot. Or it might honor a
legendary king of Athens; according to this tale, the king invented a chariot that was drawn by four
horses. Auriga shares a star with Taurus, the bull, which is just south of the charioteer. The star
is on the border between the two constellations. Officially, though, it's catalogued as Beta Tauri
-- one of the brightest stars in Taurus. It forms the tip of one of the bull's horns. To find
Auriga, look for bright yellow Capella high overhead around 9 or 10 o'clock. The rest of the
chariotless charioteer spreads to the south and east of Capella. Script by Damond Benningfield,
Copyright 2002