9:22 PM 1/15/2023 Aldebaran Web Images News Blogs Scholar α Tau, 87 Tau, HD 29139, SAO 94027, HR 1457 Aldebaran, (α Tau / α Tauri / Alpha Tauri), is the brightest star in the constellation Taurus and one of the brightest stars in the nighttime sky. Because of its location in the head of Taurus, it has historically been called the Bull's Eye.Its name is derived from the Arabic الدبران al-dabarān meaning "the follower", a reference to the way the star follows the Pleiades star cluster in its nightly journey across the sky. Aldebaran has the appearance of being the brightest member of the more scattered Hyades cluster, which is the closest star cluster to Earth. However, it is merely located in the line of sight between the Earth and the Hyades, and is actually an independent star.Aldebaran is a K5 III star, which means it is orangish, large, and has moved off of the main sequence by using all its hydrogen fuel. It has a minor companion (a dim M2 dwarf orbiting at several hundred AU). Now primarily fusing helium, the main star has expanded to a diameter of approximately 5.3 × 107 km, or about 38 times the diameter of the Sun. The Hipparcos satellite has measured it as 65.1 light years away, and it shines with 150 times the Sun's luminosity. Taken together this distance and brightness makes it the 14th brightest star, having an apparent magnitude of 0.87. It is slightly variable, of the irregular variable type, by about 0.2 magnitude.In 1997, a possible large planet (or small brown dwarf) companion was reported, with a mass equalling that of 11 Jupiters and orbiting at a distance of 1.35 AU.Aldebaran is one of the easiest stars to find in the night sky, partly due to its brightness and partly due to its spatial relation to one of the more noticeable asterisms in the sky. If one follows the three stars of Orion's belt from left to right (in the Northern Hemisphere) or right to left (in the Southern), the first bright star found by continuing that line is Aldebaran.The unmanned Pioneer 10 spacecraft was last reported to have been heading toward Aldebaran. Assuming the spacecraft avoids some form of collision, the spacecraft will arrive at Aldebaran in 2 million years. Full Article Text available from Wikipedia under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License More technical information on Aldebaran available from SIMBAD Location RA: 4h35m55.2s DEC: +16°30m33.0s Pleiades Web Images News Blogs Scholar Messier 45 The Pleiades - also known as M45 or the Seven Sisters - is the name of an open cluster in the constellation of Taurus. It is among the nearest to the Earth of all open clusters, probably the best known and certainly the most striking to the naked eye. This asterism is sometimes referred to as the Maia Nebula, perhaps erroneously considering that the reflection nebulosity surrounding Maia is extrinsic (see below). More technical information on Pleiades available from the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database and SIMBAD Location RA: 3h47m10s DEC: +24°7m32s Merope Nebula Web Images News Blogs Scholar NGC 1435 NGC 1435 is a reflection nebula in the Pleiades open cluster in the constellation of Taurus. It was discovered by Wilhelm Tempel in October 19, 1859. The nebula consists of dust left over from the formation of the cluster, which reflects the blue starlight of the hot young stars. It shows up clearly on long-exposure photographs, and may be visible to the naked eye from the darkest observing sites. Full Article Text available from Wikipedia under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License More technical information on Merope Nebula available from the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database and SIMBAD Location RA: 3h46m10.0s DEC: +23°45m54.0s