Capella, also known as Alpha Aurigae or 13 Aurigae, was an inhabited planetary system located inside a sector of the Alpha Quadrant. It was the sixth brightest star in Earth's night sky.
Notable lifeforms in this system were the Capellans, Capellan flowers and Capellan power-cats, all from Capella IV. (TOS: "Friday's Child"; TAS: "How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth", "The Counter-Clock Incident")
Components[]
Stellar system[]
This was a quaternary star system. It was organized into a pair of binary star systems.
The G-type giant stars Capella (the proper name for Capella Aa) and Capella Ab were in one system, and the red dwarfs Capella H and Capella L were in the other system. (ENT: "Cold Front")
Planetary system[]
There were at least four planets, including Capella IV that was in the system's habitable zone. (TOS: "Friday's Child")
History[]
In the late 2250s, the Capella system had a warp capable civilization that had or was in the process of being inducted into the United Federation of Planets. (SNW: "Strange New Worlds")
In the 2260s, the system was in a spatial region contested over by both the Federation and the Klingon Empire.
In 2267, the Federation and the Klingon Empire attempted to gain mining rights from the Capellans of Capella IV. The rare mineral topaline, vital to the life support systems of planetoid colonies, was in abundance there. The crew of the USS Enterprise secured the mining rights by treaty for the Federation. (TOS: "Friday's Child")
Stellar cartography[]
"The Explored Galaxy"
The Capella system was visible from Earth in the constellation Auriga. This system was approximately 44 light years from Sol.
The location of Capella (Alpha Aurigae) on a United Earth star chart, 2154
In the 2150s, this system's position was labeled on an United Earth star chart which was displayed in several crew and guest quarters aboard the Enterprise. (Star Trek: Enterprise, set decoration))
In 2259, the location of this system was labeled on a stellar cartography chart that was seen on the USS Enterprise's ready room viewscreen. This system's symbol had a blue color, indicating that it was affiliated with the Federation. (SNW: "Strange New Worlds", "Children of the Comet", "Spock Amok")
In 2293, the location of Capella in the Milky Way Galaxy was labeled in a star chart that was in Captain James T. Kirk's quarters aboard the USS Enterprise-A. (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, okudagram)
On stardate 1292.4, the location of this system was labeled in a chart used during a Section 31 Alpha Team briefing. (Star Trek: Section 31)
In 2365, the location of Capella was labeled in a Subspace Comm Net Ops star chart, which was seen in the courtroom on Starbase 173. This system was connected by subspace lines to Alpha Majoris, Beta Lyrae, Gamma Trianguli, and Kling. (TNG: "The Measure Of A Man")
The system's location was labeled in a Federation star chart that was in Fleet Admiral Kirsten Clancy's office at Starfleet Headquarters in 2399 and on the bridge of the USS Titan-A in 2401. The Capella system was in or near to Cardassian space. (PIC: "Maps and Legends", "The Next Generation", "Disengage")
External links[]
- Capella at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
- Capella at Wikipedia
- Capella at the Internet Stellar Database