Auriga (constellation) horizon. A large constellation, with an area of 657 square degrees, it is half the size of the largest constellation, Hydra. Its brightest star, Capella, is an unusual multiple star system among the brightest stars in the night sky. Beta Aurigae is an interesting variable star in the constellation; Epsilon Aurigae, a nearby eclipsing binary with an unusually long period, has been studied intensively. Because of its position near the winter Milky Way, Auriga has many bright open clusters in its borders, including M36, M37, and M38, popular targets for amateur astronomers. In addition, it has one prominent nebula, the
Vela (constellation) "Vel". The official constellation boundaries, as set by Eugène Delporte in 1930, are defined by a polygon of 14 segments. In the equatorial coordinate system, the right ascension coordinates of these borders lie between and , while the declination coordinates are between −37.16° and −57.17°. The brightest star in the constellation, Gamma Velorum, is a complex multiple star system. The brighter component, known as Gamma Velorum or Suhail, shines as a blue-white star of apparent magnitude 1.83. It is a spectroscopic binary made up of two very hot blue stars orbiting each other every 78.5 days and separated by somewhere