Taurus
- Symbolism: The Bull
- Main Stars: 19
Position in the sky
- RA: 4 hours
- DEC: 15 degrees
- Visible between latitudes 90 and -65 degrees
- Best seen in January (at 9:00 PM)
Named Stars
- Aldebaran (Alpha Tau)
- Alnath (Beta Tau)
- Hyadum l (Gamma Tau)
- Hyadum ll (Delta 1 Tau)
- Ain (Epsilon Tau)
- Alcyon (Eta Tau)
- Calaeno (16 Tau)
- Electa (17 Tau)
- Taygeta (19 Tau)
- Maia (20 Tau)
- Asterope (21 Tau)
- Sterope ll (22 Tau)
- Merope (23 Tau)
- Atlas (27 Tau)
- Pleione (28 Tau)
Messier Objects
- M1 The Crab Nebula
- M45 The Pleiades
Meteor Showers
- Taurids
- Beta Taurids
Mythology
In Greek mythology, Taurus was identified with Zeus, who assumed the form of a white bull in order to seduce the legendary Phoenician princess, Europa. It is told that Zues had Hermes take the king's cattle to the mountains near where the girls of Tyre played on the beach. In the form of a bull, Zeus hid among the cattle awaiting his chance to abduct Europa.
Seeing how beautiful the bull was, she approached him with flowers and admired his muscular body. The bull placed kisses on her hands, hardly able to contain himself. As he laid down, Europa sat atop his back and he took off for the ocean. Alarmed, but fearing she was helpless, Europa clung tightly to the bull as he swam to Crete. Back on shore, Zeus revealed himself and seduced Europa, and adorned her with gifts such as a dog, who became Canis Major.
In artwork, it is only the front of Taurus which is displayed as the constellation; one argument is that it depicts the bull as partially submerged in water. Actually though, there just is no room for the rest of the bull to exist in the sky; as Perseus stands just behind Taurus.
Features
Seeing how beautiful the bull was, she approached him with flowers and admired his muscular body. The bull placed kisses on her hands, hardly able to contain himself. As he laid down, Europa sat atop his back and he took off for the ocean. Alarmed, but fearing she was helpless, Europa clung tightly to the bull as he swam to Crete. Back on shore, Zeus revealed himself and seduced Europa, and adorned her with gifts such as a dog, who became Canis Major.
In artwork, it is only the front of Taurus which is displayed as the constellation; one argument is that it depicts the bull as partially submerged in water. Actually though, there just is no room for the rest of the bull to exist in the sky; as Perseus stands just behind Taurus.
Features
Locating Taurus is just as easy as locating Orion. To the west of Orion, the large V shape of his horns, tipped by the red giant Aldebaran ("the follower of the Pleiades") is hard to miss as it arcs across the sky. From Aldebaran and looking east to the tip of the horn is the binary star, zeta Tau. This star was known to the Babylonians as Shurnarkabti-sha-shutu, "the star in the bull towards the south". Just above this star lies M1, the Crab Nebula.
The Crab Nebula is a supernova remnant with a pulsar at it's center. In your scope it will appear as a "faint fuzzy", as it's a magnitude 10 object, but if seeing is good you may be able to resolve the pulsar. Today we see this object as the remnant of a supernova, but in 1054 astronomers in China and Arabia actually recorded the supernova event. Being that the star was 6.5 light years from earth, it shown for 23 days in broad daylight, and for 2 years it was visible to the unaided eye at night.
The Hyades, an open star cluster (the closest cluster to our solar system) actually forms the V shape in Taurus with Aldebaran (but technically Aldebaran is not part of the Hyades). In Greek mythology, the Hyades were the daughters of Atlas, and sisters of Hyas. After grieving for the death of their brother, Hyas, the weeping sisters were put into the star cluster. The significance of the sisters weeping relates to the Greek's belief that the rising and setting of the Hyades cluster was associated with rain (April showers, anyone?).
To the western part of Taurus is the most recognizable open cluster, the Pleiades, or the Seven Sisters. The stars in this cluster are named for the seven sisters of Greek mythology; Sterope, Merope, Electra, Maia, Taygeta, Celaeno and Alcyone. Viewing the cluster through a scope is a beautiful sight. With good seeing conditions you can resolve the wisps of nebulosity surrounding the stars. This reflection nebula is caused by dust reflecting the light from these young blue stars.
The Crab Nebula is a supernova remnant with a pulsar at it's center. In your scope it will appear as a "faint fuzzy", as it's a magnitude 10 object, but if seeing is good you may be able to resolve the pulsar. Today we see this object as the remnant of a supernova, but in 1054 astronomers in China and Arabia actually recorded the supernova event. Being that the star was 6.5 light years from earth, it shown for 23 days in broad daylight, and for 2 years it was visible to the unaided eye at night.
The Hyades, an open star cluster (the closest cluster to our solar system) actually forms the V shape in Taurus with Aldebaran (but technically Aldebaran is not part of the Hyades). In Greek mythology, the Hyades were the daughters of Atlas, and sisters of Hyas. After grieving for the death of their brother, Hyas, the weeping sisters were put into the star cluster. The significance of the sisters weeping relates to the Greek's belief that the rising and setting of the Hyades cluster was associated with rain (April showers, anyone?).
To the western part of Taurus is the most recognizable open cluster, the Pleiades, or the Seven Sisters. The stars in this cluster are named for the seven sisters of Greek mythology; Sterope, Merope, Electra, Maia, Taygeta, Celaeno and Alcyone. Viewing the cluster through a scope is a beautiful sight. With good seeing conditions you can resolve the wisps of nebulosity surrounding the stars. This reflection nebula is caused by dust reflecting the light from these young blue stars.
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| Taurus, M1, Hyades and the Pleiades. |
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