Orbital
Distance

(a=AUs)
Orbital
Period

(P=years)
Orbital
Eccentricity

(e)
Orbital
Inclination

(i=degrees)

Mass

(Solar)

Diameter

(Solar)

Density

(Earths)
Surface
Gravity

(Earths)

Metallicity
(Solar)
CD Mass Center0.0........................
Capella C113880650.30-0.400.56.........
Habitable Zone C0.110.07065...............
Capella D373880650.100.25-0.30.........
Habitable Zone D0.020.02065...............


NOTE: This animation attempts to relate the possible orbits of Capella C and D (and their habitable zones) to their common center of mass. To enlarge the display, the orbits have been arbitrarily rotated by 45 degrees. Although the initial display shows the system's actual orbital tilt (at an inclination of 65°) from the visual perspective of an observer on Earth, the orbital inclination of any planet that may be discovered someday around Stars C or D would likely be different from that of the habitable zone orbit depicted here.

According to Wulff D. Heintz (1975) in the new Sixth Catalog of Visual Orbits of Binary Stars, Stars C and D have an average separation of about 48.1 AUs (a= 3.72") and move in a circular orbit (e= 0) with a period of about 388 years and an orbital inclination of 65.0° from the perspective of Earth. The two dim stars have another pair of bright stellar companions Aa and Ab at a current separation of about 11,000 AUs, or 0.17 light-years.


 

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