Kappa Tauri (κ Tau, κ Tauri) is a double star in the constellationTaurus, the two components κ1 Tauri and κ2 Tauri both members of the Hyadesopen cluster. The pair are approximately 150 light years from Earth and are separated from each other by about six light years.
Between the two bright stars is a binary star made up of two 9th magnitude stars, Kappa Tauri C and Kappa Tauri D, which are 5.5 arcseconds from each other (as of 2013) and 175.1 arcseconds from κ1 Tau. Two more 12th magnitude companions fill out the visual group: Kappa Tauri E, which is 145 arcseconds from κ1 Tau, and Kappa Tauri F, 108.5 arcseconds away from κ2 Tau.[12]
The bright pair are both members of the Hyades star cluster, while the fainter stars are all much more distant background stars.[13]
With φ, υ and χ, it composed the Arabic were the Arabs' Al Kalbain, the Two Dogs.[15] According to the catalogue of stars in the Technical Memorandum 33-507 - A Reduced Star Catalog Containing 537 Named Stars, Al Kalbain were the title for five stars : φ as Alkalbain I, χ as Alkalbain II, these stars (κ2 and κ1) are Alkalbain III and Alkalbain IV, and υ as Alkalbain V.[16]
In Chinese, 天街 (Tiān Jiē), meaning Celestial Street, refers to an asterism consisting of κ1 Tauri and ω Tauri. Consequently, κ1 Tauri itself is known as 天街一 (Tiān Jiē yī, English: the First Star Star of Celestial Street.).[17]
^ abcdefghMermilliod, J.-C. (1986), "Compilation of Eggen's UBV data, transformed to UBV (unpublished)", Catalogue of Eggen's UBV Data. SIMBAD, Bibcode:1986EgUBV........0M.
^Cowley, A.; et al. (April 1969), "A study of the bright A stars. I. A catalogue of spectral classifications", Astronomical Journal, 74: 375–406, Bibcode:1969AJ.....74..375C, doi:10.1086/110819
^Kharchenko, N. V.; et al. (2007), "Astrophysical supplements to the ASCC-2.5: Ia. Radial velocities of ˜55000 stars and mean radial velocities of 516 Galactic open clusters and associations", Astronomische Nachrichten, 328 (9): 889–896, arXiv:0705.0878, Bibcode:2007AN....328..889K, doi:10.1002/asna.200710776, S2CID119323941.
^Horan, S. (November 1979), "A photometric survey of the Hyades for Delta Scuti variables", Astronomical Journal, 84: 1770–1774, Bibcode:1979AJ.....84.1770H, doi:10.1086/112607