Auriga (constellation) Flaming Star Nebula, associated with the variable star AE Aurigae. In Chinese mythology, Auriga's stars were incorporated into several constellations, including the celestial emperors' chariots, made up of the modern constellation's brightest stars. Auriga is home to the radiant for the Aurigids, Zeta Aurigids, Delta Aurigids, and the hypothesized Iota Aurigids. The first record of Auriga's stars was in Mesopotamia as a constellation called GAM, representing a scimitar or crook. However, this may have represented just Capella (Alpha Aurigae) or the modern constellation as a whole; this figure was alternatively called Gamlum or MUL.GAM in the MUL.APIN. The crook of
Capella the charioteer is carrying. In Bayer's 1603 work "Uranometria", Capella marks the charioteer's back. The three "Haedi" had been identified as a separate constellation by Pliny the Elder and Manilius, and were called "Capra", "Caper", or "Hircus", all of which relate to its status as the "goat star". Ptolemy merged the Charioteer and the Goats in the 2nd century Almagest. In Greek mythology, the star represented the goat Amalthea that suckled Zeus. It was this goat whose horn, after accidentally being broken off by Zeus, was transformed into the Cornucopia, or "horn of plenty", which would be filled with whatever