Capella is a star system of four stars in the constellation of Auriga, appearing as a single star to the naked eye. It is the third-brightest star or star system in the northern celestial hemisphere, after Arcturus and Vega. Always above the horizon for observers north of 44°N, the Capella system is only 42.9 light-years from the Sun. Its two largest stars are Capella Aa and Capella Ab, bright yellow giant stars in a binary pair, both around 2.5 times as massive as the Sun. They are in a very tight circular 104-day orbit, some 0.76 astronomical units (au) apart. Capella Aa is the cooler and more luminous of the two, with around 79 times the Sun's luminosity. An ageing red clump star, it is fusing helium to carbon and oxygen in its core. Ab is slightly less massive, smaller and hotter, about 73 times as luminous as the Sun. The Capella system is one of the brightest sources of X-rays in the sky, thought to come primarily from the corona of the more massive giant. The other two stars, a binary pair around 10,000 au from the first two, are faint, small and relatively cool red dwarfs.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capella
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1556:
Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer, one of the founders of Anglicanism, was burnt at the stake in Oxford, England, for heresy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Cranmer
1918:
First World War: The German Army opened the Spring Offensive with Operation Michael, attempting to break through the Allied lines and to seize ports on the English Channel. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Michael
1952:
The first major rock and roll concert, the Moondog Coronation Ball, was held at the Cleveland Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moondog_Coronation_Ball
1968:
War of Attrition: The Israel Defense Forces clashed with the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Jordanian Armed Forces during the Battle of Karameh (aftermath pictured). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Karameh
2006:
A man using a hammer smashed the statue of Phra Phrom in the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok, Thailand, and was subsequently beaten to death by bystanders. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erawan_Shrine
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
sylvan: 1. Pertaining to the forest, or woodlands. 2. Residing in a forest or wood. 3. Wooded, or covered in forest. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sylvan
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
When the full-grown poet came, Out spake pleased Nature (the round impassive globe, with all its shows of day and night,) saying, He is mine; But out spake too the Soul of man, proud, jealous and unreconciled, Nay he is mine alone; — Then the full-grown poet stood between the two, and took each by the hand; And to-day and ever so stands, as blender, uniter, tightly holding hands, Which he will never release until he reconciles the two, And wholly and joyously blends them. --Leaves of Grass https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Leaves_of_Grass