Menkalinan (Beta Aurigae) is a white subgiant star approximately 85 light-years away in the constellation Auriga. The name Menkalinan is shortened from the Arabic "shoulder of the rein-holder". Beta Aurigae is a white star of spectral class A , similar to Vega, Denebola, and Sirius. Beta Aurigae is also a subgiant star, which means it has started to change from burning hydrogen to burning helium, has moved off the main sequence, and is slowly expanding into a giant star like Aldebaran.

In Star Trek, Beta Aurigae is located in or near Federation space. (TNG: "Conspiracy") In 2269, the USS Potemkin was scheduled to rendezvous with the USS Enterprise in the Beta Aurigae system to conduct gravitational studies of the effects of the two major binary stars of Beta Aurigae. Before they could meet up at the system, the Enterprise received a distress call from Camus II causing the mission with the Potemkin to be delayed. (TOS: "Turnabout Intruder")

In reality, Beta Aurigae is actually a ternary (triple) star system. The two brightest components, Beta Aurigae A and B, are both white subgiants. Star B is about the same mass and radius as A. Beta Aurigae A and B form an eclipsing spectroscopic binary; the combined apparent magnitude varies over a period of 3.96004 days between +1.85 and +1.93, as every 47.5 hours one of the stars partially eclipses the other from Earth's perspective. The third star, Beta Aurigae C, is a red dwarf star that is far below naked-eye visibility. It is about 330 AU from the AB pair.

Beta Aurigae is believed to be a stream star member of the Ursa Major Moving Group.