Along their respective orbits around the Milky Way, Beta Aurigae and the Sun are closing in on each other, so that in around one million years it will become the brightest star in the night sky.

citation

Wikipedia contributors. (2024, August 19). Beta Aurigae. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved August 19, 2024, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Beta_Aurigae&oldid=1241127108

Beta Aurigae (Wikipedia) Beta Aurigae (Latinized from β Aurigae, abbreviated Beta Aur, β Aur), officially named Menkalinan /mɛŋˈkælɪnæn/, is a binary star system in the northern constellation of Auriga. The combined apparent visual magnitude of the system is 1.9, making it the second-brightest member of the constellation after Capella. Using the parallax measurements made during the Hipparcos mission, the distance to this star system can be estimated as 81.1 light-years (24.9 parsecs), give or take a half-light-year margin of error.