The Fixed Stars

Elnath

Beta Tauri, Gamma Aurigae, El Nath, the Butting One

The butting one, the tip of the Bull's northern horn. It stands at about 22° Gemini (tropical).

The point of the northern horn, shared between the Bull and the Charioteer.

Beta Tauri marks the tip of the Bull's northern horn and lies on the border with Auriga, where it once counted as Gamma Aurigae, a star belonging to both figures. Robson gives it the nature of Mars and Mercury, fortune, eminence and a quality of getting on in the world, with the ambition and quarrelsomeness that a Mars-Mercury star can carry. It is a bright blue giant and one of the more prominent stars of the Bull after Aldebaran.

A horn-tip star shared with Auriga; Robson's Mars-Mercury nature reads it as favorable for standing and success.