Star profile
Elnath
Beta Tauri · Taurus
Hot blue starWhat is Elnath
Elnath, the Beta of Taurus, marks one of the bull's celestial horns and sits on the very edge of neighbouring Auriga. Its name comes from the Arabic «al-naṭḥ», «the goring» — the thrust of the mythic beast. A hot, young, blue-white B-class star roughly 134 light-years away, its light arriving tonight first crossed the dark while Napoleon still walked the Earth and the telegraph was barely a dream.
Where it is and when to see it
Elnath lies in the northern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is December, when it culminates around midnight.
- From London it culminates about 67° above the horizon.
- From New York it culminates about 78° above the horizon.
- From Sydney it culminates about 27° above the horizon.
It can be seen from anywhere north of 61° S.
It ranks no. 2 in brightness among the 144 stars of Taurus in our catalogue. To find it, start from Aldebaran, the brightest: it lies about 17° away (a fist at arm's length covers about 10°).
The light you see today left it about 130 years ago.
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A public signature from a real person. The chosen name is a symbolic denomination within Stelvia, with no official standing or IAU recognition: the sky is not for sale and belongs to no one.
Astronomical data for Elnath
- Constellation
- Taurus
- Apparent magnitude
- 1.65
- Distance
- 133.9 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 81.573° · Dec 28.607°
- Catalogue
- HIP 25428 · HD 35497
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Other stars in Taurus
Taurus has 144 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.
- AldebaranAlpha Tauri0.87
- AlcyoneEta Tauri2.85
- TianguanZeta Tauri2.97
- ChamukuyTheta 2 Tauri3.40
- Lambda Tauri3.41
- AinEpsilon Tauri3.53
- Omicron Tauri3.61
- Atlas3.62