Aldebaran:

Aldebaran is by far the brightest and therefore alpha star in the constellation Taurus.  Its name means ‘follower’ as it appears to follow the Pleiades (Seven Sisters) across the nights sky.  As a side note the Pleiades are known as Subaru in Japan … take a look at the car companies logo and you’ll see the Pleiades proudly displayed .

Within the constellation of Taurus, Aldebaran makes up the eye of the bull … while the rest of the V-shaped face is made up of Hyades, an open star cluster made up of 200 stars more than 150 light years away.  Aldebaran is an independent orange giant a mere 65 light years away.  Aldebaran currently has a diameter about half the size of Mercury’s orbit and its outer layers are pulsating without any obvious pattern, causing its brightness to vary by about .2 magnitude.

You can locate Aldebaran using the famous constellation Orion as a guide. Simply locate the three stars of Orion’s Belt. Then draw an imaginary line through the belt to the right. The first bright star you come to will be Aldebaran with its distinctive reddish-orange glow.

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Aldebaran Overview:

  • Constellation Taurus
  • Alpha (α) 4h36m, +16°31′
  • Type Variable star
  • Magnitude .85
  • Luminosity 425 Suns
  • Spectral Type K5III
  • Distance 67 light years

Taurus Constellation … The Bull

One of the most obvious patterns in the sky, Taurus draws attention to itself through its bright red star and focal point Aldebaran.  The constellation has been seen as a bull almost universally … from ancient middle east to classical Greece to pre-Colombian South America.  Only the Chinese had a different interpretation, seeing the central region as a white tiger.

The story … Orion is the center of a complex scene involving many of the surrounding constellations, Canis Minor and Major, directly behind him represent his hunting dogs.  His foe Taurus the attacking bull that he is attempting to fend off. Lastly there is Lepus the hare that is cowering at his feet.

Astronomy 101