Star Elnath

The star Elnath, also called Beta Tauri, represents one of the two horn tips of the constellation of Taurus.

Facts about Elnath

The star Elnath has an apparent brightness of 1.7mag and is a blue-white star of spectral type B7. Thus it belongs to the 30 brightest stars in the night sky. Furthermore it is about 130 light-years away. Elnath has 700 times the luminosity of the sun and is called a mercury-manganese star and therefore belongs to the peculiar stars. Compared to the Sun it has a poverty of calcium and magnesium. Also Elnath is in the process of moving away from its main sequence and becoming a giant. In addition, the star can also be covered by the moon when it is close to the vernal equinox.