The Fixed Stars

Tianguan

Zeta Tauri, the celestial gate

The celestial gate, from the Chinese name for the star at the southern horn. It stands at about 0° Gemini (tropical).

The tip of the southern horn, a gate low on the Bull's charge.

Zeta Tauri marks the point of the Bull's southern horn, opposite Elnath's northern horn, and is a hot blue star spinning fast enough to shed a disk of gas around itself. Its Chinese name Tianguan, the celestial gate, belongs to the star and its neighborhood rather than to the Western fixed-star tradition. Little traditional Western lore attaches to this star.

Little traditional Western delineation attaches to this star; its interest is its place as the southern horn tip and its Chinese gate-name.