Arabic star names / Mintaka
Mintaka
المنطقة
Mintaka comes from the Arabic المنطقة (al-Minṭaqa), which means “the belt”. It is the 74th-brightest star in the sky, in Orion.
- Brightness
- 2.25
- Colour
- blue-white
- Constellation
- Orion
- Best seen
- January evenings
- Right ascension
- 5h 32m
- Declination
- −0° 18′
The name
The western star of Orion's Belt. It rises almost exactly due east and sets due west from anywhere on Earth.
Where you can see it
It rises everywhere south of 90°N. From Riyadh it climbs to 65° above the horizon. From London it climbs to 38° above the horizon. From Sydney it climbs to 56° above the horizon.
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