The Fixed Stars

Ain

Epsilon Tauri, Oculus Borealis, the northern eye

The eye, from the Arabic name for the star in the Bull's face. It stands at about 9° Gemini (tropical).

The northern eye of the Bull, an orange giant among the Hyades.

Epsilon Tauri sits in the Hyades and is named Ain, the eye, marking the Bull's northern eye where Aldebaran stands as the brighter southern one. It is an aging orange giant, and it shares the Saturn-Mercury character Ptolemy gave the Hyades along with their rainy, tearful reputation. Its individual lore is slight beyond its place among the wet sisters and its name as the northern eye.

A Hyades member; the cluster's stormy character is the tradition here, and the name marks it as the Bull's northern eye.