Kappa Aurigae

Kappa Aurigae, Latinised from κ Aurigae, is the Bayer designation for a star in the northern constellation of Auriga. It is visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude of 4.3. Based upon an annual parallax shift of $18.43 mas$, it is approximately 177 ly distant from Earth.

This is an evolved giant star with a stellar classification of G8.5 IIIb. It is a red clump star, which means it is towards the cool end of the horizontal branch and is generating energy through the fusion of helium at its core. Kappa Aurigae has expanded to 11 times the radius of the Sun and shines with 54 times the Sun's luminosity. This energy is radiated into outer space from the outer envelope at an effective temperature of $4,732 K$. At this heat, the star glows with the orange hue of a G-type star.