Phi Aurigae, Latinized from φ Aurigae, is a giant star in the northern constellation of Auriga. It is faintly visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude of 5.089. It lies from another faint naked-eye star HD 35520, between the three open clusters M36 and M38, and NGC 1893.
The distance to this star, as determined from parallax measurements, is approximately 480abbr=offNaNabbr=off with a 10 light-year margin of error. This is an evolved giant star with a stellar classification of K3 IIIp and an estimated radius equal to 16 times the radius of the Sun. The outer envelope has an effective temperature of 4,367 K, giving it the cool orange-hued glow of a K-type star.