In the ancient world, goats were popular livestock. Their hardy constitution and scrappy nature made them the animal of choice to survive rocky arid and bleak conditions. We see a goat in the zodiacal constellation, Capricornus. But, stars are named after goats, too. To find them, we need to turn to the constellation Auriga in the northern sky.

While most star names are Arabic in origin, the name of one prominent winter star has its roots in Latin. It is Capella — the She-goat. Capella, at first magnitude, is the sixth brightest star in the sky and is about 42 light years distant. Also designated Alpha Aurigae, Capella is easy to spot these midwinter evenings. High above the northeastern horizon in the twilight, it reaches zenith before 10 p.m.

In ancient mythology, Capella is said to be the goat that nursed baby Jupiter. While roughhousing with the goat, Jupiter broke off one of her horns. He gave the horn the magical power to provide an abundance of whatever the person holding it desired. It became known as the Cornucopia, or the horn of plenty. This seems appropriate as Capella begins its annual appearance in the night sky during the autumn harvest season.

Next to Capella is a thin isosceles triangle of stars informally known as The Kids. In ancient times, mariners would keep watch for the October appearance of these stars because they signal the beginning of the Mediterranean storm season. The star at the point of the triangle is of particular interest to astronomers. Designated Epsilon Aurigae and located over 2,000 light years distant, it is sometimes referred to by its Arabic name Almaaz, the He-Goat.

Epsilon Aurigae is a binary star consisting of a bright yellow-white supergiant and a dark eclipsing partner that we know little about. During an eclipse, Epsilon Aruigae first dims and then brightens, leading some astronomers to predict the occluding body is a star cloaked by a large dusty disc nearly edge-on to our line of sight. Epsilon Aurigae undergoes eclipse every 27 years. The last eclipse occurred during 1982-1984. The next cycle begins this year and goes into 2011.

Observatories around the world stand by ready to train new telescopes and sensors on Epsilon Aurigae for this next eclipse.

In addition to being the home constellation for the goat stars Capella and Almaaz, the constellation Auriga is host to some beautiful open star clusters. All of them can be seen with binoculars or a small telescope. If you would like a chart to guide you in your exploration of Auriga, send me a note, and I'll get one out to you.

Peter Lipscomb is director of the Night Sky Program for the New Mexico Heritage Preservation Alliance. Contact him at plipscomb@nmheritage.org.