The Fixed Stars

Menkalinan

Beta Aurigae, Menkalinan

'the shoulder of the rein-holder'. It stands at about 0° Cancer (tropical).

The shoulder that holds the reins, second light of the Charioteer.

Beta Aurigae marks the shoulder of the rein-holder, and its Arabic name Mankib dhi al-inan carries that sense. A near-white star of the second magnitude, it stands across the driver's figure from the brilliant Capella. Robson assigns it the nature of Mars and Mercury; it carries little lore of its own beyond its neighbor's shadow.