William Tyler Olcott

“ On the Assyrian tablets Auriga was the "Chariot," and in accordance with this in Græco-Babylonian times the constellation "Rukubi," the Chariot, lay here nearly coincident with our Charioteer.
Seen rising in the north-east, it needs but little imagination to trace in the stars of Auriga a resemblance to an ancient Roman chariot, so that the title "Chariot" seems more appropriate than "Charioteer."
Ideler thinks that the original figure was made up of the five stars α, β, ε, ζ, η. The driver (represented by the star Capella) is imagined as standing on an antique sloping chariot, marked by β. ”

“ In brightness Capella ranks third of all the stars we see in these latitudes, and fifth of all the stars in the firmament. Its mass is eighteen times that of the sun.
Dr. Elkins gives its parallax, that is its distance from the earth, as approximately thirty-four light years. A light year is the distance light travels in one year, at the terrific speed of 186,000 miles a second.
Capella is receding from the earth at the rate of about fifteen miles a second, and in about 3,000,000 years will appear as a second magnitude star. ”

“ When the kids glitter in the western sky.
The Kids are represented by the three fourth magnitude stars, ε, ζ, and η Aurigæ, which form a small isosceles triangle close to Capella and serve to identify that star. ”

“ They were sometimes called "the stormy Hædi," and were so much dreaded as presaging the stormy season on the Mediterranean, that their rising early in October evenings was the signal for the closing of navigation. ”