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Epsilon Aurigae
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Epsilon Aurigae

star system
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Written by
John Donald Fernie
Professor Emeritus, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Toronto, Ontario. Author of Setting Sail for the Universe: Astronomers and their Discoveries.
John Donald Fernie
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Epsilon Aurigae, binary star system of about third magnitude having one of the longest orbital periods (27 years) among eclipsing binaries (see eclipsing variable star). It is located an estimated 2,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Auriga. The primary star is a yellow-white star about 135 times the size of the Sun. The secondary star, once thought to be thousands of times the size of the Sun, is a hot main-sequence star surrounded by an immense disk of gas that eclipses the primary for two years.

John Donald Fernie