Star profile

Aldebaran

Alpha Tauri · Taurus

Variable star

3D likeness based on its real data · class K · ~4,200 K

What is Aldebaran

Aldebaran, 'the follower' in Arabic, has chased the Pleiades across the sky of Taurus for as long as humans have looked up, glowing as the bull's burning eye. Its orange, faintly variable K-giant light once guided Persian and Babylonian astronomers. The distance is modest — barely 67 light-years — which is why it feels so close: tonight you see the glow it cast around 1959.

Where it is and when to see it

Aldebaran lies in the northern celestial hemisphere. It is one of the brightest stars in the sky: visible even from a city. Its best month of the year is December: the Sun sits at the opposite point of the sky and the star culminates around midnight. How high it climbs above the horizon depends on the latitude you watch from.

Find it on the sky map

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The signature wall

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Write my signature

A public signature from a real person. The chosen name is a symbolic denomination within Stelvia, with no official standing or IAU recognition: the sky is not for sale and belongs to no one.

Astronomical data for Aldebaran

Constellation: Taurus
Apparent magnitude: 0.87
Distance: 66.7 light years
Coordinates (J2000): RA 68.980° · Dec 16.509°
Catalogue: HIP 21421 · HD 29139

A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.

Other stars in Taurus

Taurus has 144 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.

See all 144 stars in Taurus