Lambda Tauri (λ Tau / λ Tauri) is a
triple star system in the
constellation Taurus. It has the traditional name
Elthor (
Althor,
Althaur,
Al Thaur), which is
Arabic for "The Bull", derived from the title
Ath-Thawr Ath-Thurayya (الثور الثريا), meaning "The Bull of the Pleiades".
The primary component,
Lambda Tauri A, is a blue-white
B-type main sequence dwarf with a mean
apparent magnitude of +3.41. It has a
luminosity of about 4,000 times that of the Sun and a radius of 6.6 times solar. The companion is a white A-type
subgiant of 5.5 solar radii and 95 solar luminosities. They orbit around a common centre of gravity once every 3.95 days. The spatial separation between these two stars is measured at 0.1
astronomical unit.
Because the system is an
eclipsing binary its brightness varies from magnitude +3.37 to +3.91 as first one star and then the other pass in front of its companion. The system has a third, dimmer star with an orbital period of 33 days. The Lambda Tauri system is approximately 370
light years from
Earth.
It, along with
δ Librae, was the first star on which
rotational line broadening
[, Frank Schlesinger, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 71, p.719-719.]was observed, by
Frank Schlesinger in 1909.