Iota Tauri, Latinized from ι Tauri, is a white-hued star in the zodiac constellation Taurus and an outlying member of the Hyades star cluster. It is visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude of 4.62, and is located at an estimated distance of about 173 light years based upon parallax measurements. The star is moving away from the Sun with a radial velocity of +38 km/s.
This has been reported as a double star with two components at separation 0.1", both of type A7V and magnitude 5.4. Vizier catalog entry Vizier catalog entry The combined spectrum matches a stellar classification of A7 V, which would normally indicate an A-type main-sequence star that is generating energy through hydrogen fusion at its core. It has an estimated age of 717 million years.
In Chinese astronomy, the asterism Tiāngāo (, Celestial High Terrace) consists of the stars ι Tauri, 97 Tauri, 107 Tauri, and 109 Tauri. The Chinese name for ι Tauri itself is Tiāngāoyī (), the first star of Tiāngāo.
References