It bore the traditional name of 'Tabit', from the Arabic الثابت al-thābit 'the endurer (the fixed/constant one)'.[13] In 2016, the IAU organized a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN)[14] to catalog and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN approved the name Tabit for this star on 5 September 2017 and it is now so included in the List of IAU-approved Star Names.[12]
According to Richard Hinckley Allen: Star Names – Their Lore and Meaning, this star, together with ο1 Orionis, ο2 Orionis, π1 Orionis, π2 Orionis, π4 Orionis, π5 Orionis, π6 Orionis and 6 Orionis (are all of the 4th to the 5th magnitudes and in a vertical line), indicate the lion's skinwere but Al Tizini said that they were the Persians' Al Tāj, "the Crown", or "Tiara", of their kings; and the Arabians' Al Kumm, "the Sleeve", of the garment in which they dressed the Giant, the skin being omitted. Ulugh Beg called them Al Dhawāib, "Anything Pendent"; and the Borgian globe had the same, perhaps originated it. Al Sufi's title was Manica, a Latin term for a protecting Gauntlet; and Grotius gave a lengthy dissertation on the Mantile, which some anonymous person applied to them, figured as a cloth thrown over the Giant's arm.[17]
Although a periodicity of 73.26 days has been observed in the star's radial velocity, it seems likely to be bound more to stellar activity than to a planetary object in close orbit. No substellar companion has been detected so far around Pi3 Orionis and the McDonald Observatory team has set limits to the presence of one or more planets[20] with masses between 0.84 and 46.7 Jupiter masses and average separations spanning between 0.05 and 5.2 astronomical units. Thus, so far it appears that planets could easily orbit in the habitable zone without any complications caused by a gravitationally perturbing body.
^ abcdeJohnson, H. L.; Morgan, W. W. (1953), "Fundamental stellar photometry for standards of spectral type on the revised system of the Yerkes spectral atlas", Astrophysical Journal, 117: 313–352, Bibcode:1953ApJ...117..313J, doi:10.1086/145697.
^Kukarkin, B. V.; et al. (1981), "Nachrichtenblatt der Vereinigung der Sternfreunde e.V. (Catalogue of suspected variable stars)", Nachrichtenblatt der Vereinigung der Sternfreunde, Moscow: Academy of Sciences USSR Shternberg, Bibcode:1981NVS...C......0K.
^Evans, D. S. (June 20–24, 1966), "The Revision of the General Catalogue of Radial Velocities", in Batten, Alan Henry; Heard, John Frederick (eds.), Determination of Radial Velocities and their Applications, Proceedings from IAU Symposium no. 30, vol. 30, University of Toronto: International Astronomical Union, p. 57, Bibcode:1967IAUS...30...57E.
^ abKuroczkin, D.; Wiszniewski, A. (1997), "The problem of iron abundance in the SMR stars.", Acta Astronomica, 27: 145–150, Bibcode:1977AcA....27..145K.
^Bernacca, P. L.; Perinotto, M. (1970), "A catalogue of stellar rotational velocities", Contributi Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova in Asiago, 239 (1): 1, Bibcode:1970CoAsi.239....1B.
