The Fixed Stars

Alnitak

Zeta Orionis

The girdle, from the Arabic an-nitaq. It stands at about 25° Gemini (tropical).

The eastern star of the Belt, first of the three to clear the horizon.

Alnitak ends the Belt on its eastern side, with the Flame Nebula burning invisibly at its shoulder. The tradition, following Ptolemy, gives the bright stars of the Belt the nature of Jupiter and Saturn, station and steadiness earned by work, and the joint reading of the three is strength, organization and lasting good fortune. Its own name and its neighbor's are near-twins, girdle and belt, two words for the same binding.

The Jupiter and Saturn nature is Ptolemy's attribution for the Belt stars jointly, as Robson transmits it.