[11] In Chinese astronomy, Zeta Tauri is called 天關, Pinyin: Tiānguān, formerly transliterated Tien Kwan, meaning Celestial [Frontier] Gate, an asterism within the Net (畢宿 Bì Xiù) mansion).

The WGSN decided to attribute proper names to individual stars rather than entire multiple systems.

[16] Zeta Tauri is a single-lined spectroscopic binary system, which means the two components are orbiting so close to each other that they can not be resolved with a telescope.

Instead, the orbital motion of the primary component is indicated by Doppler effect shifts in the absorption lines in its spectrum.

[18][19] Hrvoje Božić and Krešimer Pavlovski, of Hvar Observatory in Croatia, monitored the brightness of Zeta Tauri from 1981 to 1986 and noticed an eclipse like effect in the light curve.

[20] A latter study of all the available photometric data, including from the Hipparcos spacecraft, failed to confirm the presence of eclipses.