Abbreviation: Â Tau
English Name: Â The Bull
Genitive:Â Aldebaran
Hemisphere:  Northern / Southern Hemisphere (Underlined means the more area in square feet in Southern Hemisphere.)
Location:Â Between the constellations of Orion and Aries.
Visible between latitudes: Â +90 and -65 degrees
Best season: Winter
Seen in three seasons:Â Autumn, Winter and Spring
Best seen in:Â JanuaryÂ
Seen between:Â October and March.
Right Ascension (RA):Â 04 hour
Declination (DEC):Â Â +15 degrees
Area (square degrees): Â 797 (17th)
Taurus  (The Bull)
- Just northwest of Orion, Taurus is an outstanding northern constellation containing two of the largest Open Clusters – The Hyades and The Pleiades, also known as The Seven Sisters -both striking groups of stars.
- In the sky, the Hyades Cluster marks the bull’s face, while the red giant star (Aldebaran) forms the creature’s bloodshot eye.
- Our Sun passes through Taurus from 14 May to 21st June every year.
Messier Objects
- M1 Â – Â Supernova remnant; it was seen from Earth in AD 1054 – detectable in binoculars under good conditions, rather faint (around magnitude: +9.0).
- M45 Â – Open Cluster; also known as Messier 45 (M45), Seven Sisters or The Pleiades, large and bright – easy to see with the naked-eye and superb sight through binoculars. Under perfect condition, the reflection nebulosity around Merope (NGC 1435) maybe glimpsed with large binoculars.
Features of Interest
- Hyades  –  Open Cluster; known as Melotte 25 (Mel25), the second closest open cluster, stars appears spread over a considerable area of the sky and its moving cluster – the star Aldebaran appears to be a member, but is in fact much closer to us and not part of the cluster.
Named Stars
- Aldebaran (Alpha Tau)
- Alnath (Beta Tau)
- Hyadum IÂ (Gamma Tau)
- Hyadum IIÂ (Delta 1 Tau)
- Ain (Epsilon Tau)
- Alcyone (Eta Tau)
- Celaeno (16 Tau)
- Electra (17 Tau)
- Taygeta (19 Tau)
- Maia (20 Tau)
- Asterope (21 Tau)
- Sterope IIÂ (22 Tau)
- Merope (23 Tau)
- Atlas (27 Tau)
- Pleione (28 Tau)
Others
- Photo of the constellation; Taurus, as it appears to the naked eye. (Lines have been added for clarity.)
- Sky Chart  –  Taurus
- List of stars in Taurus.
Back to The 88 Constellations Lists page.