The Fixed Stars

Mintaka

Delta Orionis

The belt, from the Arabic al-mintaqah. It stands at about 23° Gemini (tropical).

The western clasp of the Belt, riding almost exactly on the sky's equator.

Mintaka opens the Belt on its western side and sits nearly on the celestial equator, so it rises almost due east and sets almost due west for every watcher on earth, a navigator's friend. Robson gives it the nature of Saturn and Mercury, and his delineation is brief and kind, it gives good fortune. The name is simply the belt itself.