TAURUS THE BULL IMAGES SKIN

Aldebaran is moving toward the south almost at right angles to the motion of the Hyades stars and about twice as fast. Rather, it's an innocent bystander that is in reality positioned much closer to us at a distance of some 67 light-years. At a distance of 150 light-years, the Hyades are moving in the general direction of the star Betelgeuse in Orion while receding from the Earth at 100,000 miles per hour.ДЄlthough it fits perfectly into the V-shaped face formed by the Hyades, Aldebaran is not a member of that cluster at all. The Hyades are among the nearest of the star clusters, which explains why so many of the separate stars can be seen. Acknowledgment: Davide De Martin) Going to pieces Many dark clouds of obscuring dust are clearly visible against the background stars. Its relative closeness makes it an ideal place to study the formation of stars. This image shows a wide-field view of part of the Taurus Molecular Cloud, about 450 light-years from Earth. If you follow Orion's famous three-star belt upward and to the right you'll be taken almost directly to Aldebaran and the Hyades. In the sky, he seems to be readying himself to do battle with Taurus, who is charging down on him.

TAURUS THE BULL IMAGES SKIN

In the old-time allegorical star atlases, we see Orion, the Mighty Hunter, with his club upraised in his right hand, while using a lion skin as a shield. The brighter of these stars - El Nath - is appropriately known as 'The Butting One.' Perhaps the best earthly example of the type of bull that Taurus represents might be the yak bull, though Taurus's horns are strangely long and straight for a bull, each tipped with a star. Several others will be visible from North America during the course of the year. 19, one of these occultations will be visible across most of the United States and Canada. In 2016, the moon's path through the zodiac will cause it to pass in front of Aldebaran each month, giving different parts of the world a chance to watch a stellar eclipse, which astronomers refer to as an occultation. It is toward the zodiac we must look to find the sun, moon and planets. Taurus is also recognized as one of the 12 constellations that forms a belt encircling the sky from west to east - a belt called the zodiac. Aldebaran was one of the four and was the star associated with winter. Each star was identified with one of the four seasons. (Image credit: Reinhold Wittich / Ancient stargazers chose four bright stars as 'royal stars,' famous among both astrologers and ancient navigators. The image took 780 minutes of total exposure time in October 2010 and was released to April 2013.

Reinhold Wittich captured this image of the Pleiades star cluster from his backyard observatory in Geisling, Germany using a 12' f/4 Newton telescope.

Taurus the bull images