Menkalinan (stars.astro.illinois.edu) MENKALINAN (Beta Aurigae). Beautifully shaped Auriga, the Charioteer, rides high in northern winter skies, dominated by brilliant Capella at the northwestern corner of the prominent pentagon that makes the figure. Almost immediately to the east lies a mid-second magnitude star, Menkalinan (Men-KAL-in-an), at the northeast corner, the Arabic name meaning “the shoulder of the rein-holder.”