Mintaka
Mintaka (the proper name for Delta Orionis Aa1) was a blue-white O-type bright giant in the Mintaka system, otherwise known as 34 Orionis. This star's companion was the blue-white dwarf star Delta Orionis Aa2. These two stars were orbited by the blue-white subgiant Delta Orionis Ab. Gravitationally bound to this trinary star system, there was the binary system with the blue dwarf Delta Orionis Ca and white-blue dwarf Delta Orionis Cb.
This star system was visible from Earth in the constellation Orion; it was the right most star in Orion's Belt. It was approximately 1,240 light years from Sol.
In orbit of Mintaka there was the inhabited planet Mintaka III. On this planet, record keepers of the Mintakans recorded the position of their sun using a sundial. The optimum time for these measurements was when the sun reached its zenith in the sky. (TNG: "Who Watches The Watchers")
Appendices
Background information
This star was only mentioned in dialogue.
The quadrant of origin for this star and the star system were inferred from the placement of other astronomical objects associated with the constellation Orion.
Mintaka's name was derived from an Arabic phrase meaning "belt of the Central One", referring to Mintaka's place as the western star of Orion's Belt. This asterism was seen in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Family".
In the Star Trek: Star Charts ("United Federation of Planets II"), the Mintaka (Delta Orionis) system was a single star system with an O-class star.
At StarTrek.com, the Mintaka (Bayer nomenclature Delta Orionis) system was a binary system with an O-type primary dominating its stellar companion. This system was located about 1,500 to 2,300 light years from Sol. [1](X)
This article reflected the current state, in 2025, of knowledge about this quintenary star system. In the episode, the star was not named, just simply referred to as sun, and the Mintakans sun could be anyone of the five stars. In this situation, Memory Alpha assumed that the primary Mintaka was the sun mentioned in the episode.