Epsilon Aurigae is currently being eclipsed by a companion object with a dusty disc, as illustrated in this artist's concept. The dark phase will persist for the next 18 months.
The observations of Epsilon Aurigae were performed during the star's darkening during 2008 and 2009 by the "Center for High Angular Resolution (CHARA)" array at the Mount Wilson Observatory in California, operated by Georgia State University.
Auriga's Capella, near the lower left corner, leads the eye up and to the right to the thin triangle of stars called "The Kids," made (clockwise from the left) of Almaaz (Epsilon Aurigae), Haedus I (Zeta), and Haedus II (Eta).
Finally, the stars Alpha Aurigae, Epsilon Aurigae, Zeta Aurigae, and Eta Aurigae form the charioteer's nose: Eta Aurigae being of the third magnitude.
Reference
* H. A. Rey, The Stars — A New Way To See Them. Enlarged World-Wide Edition.
Epsilon Aurigae and Zeta Aurigae are remarkable eclipsing binaries. Together with Eta Aur, they make up the so-called Kids, an asterism which lies just to the south and slightly ahead of Capella (whose name means the "She-Goat").
Sirius, a binary consisting of a main-sequence type A star and a white dwarf.
Epsilon Aurigae, an eclipsing binary.
Triple ...
Most Algol variables are quite close binaries, and therefore their periods are short, typically a few days. The shortest known period is 0.145 days (~3.48 hours, VZ Sculptoris); the longest is 9892 days (27 years, epsilon Aurigae).
 See also: Epsilon, Auriga, Orbit, Light, Magnitude
  
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