[2] The official constellation boundaries, as set by Belgian astronomer Eugène Delporte in 1930, are defined by a polygon of 26 segments. In these ancient cultures, the orientation of the horns was portrayed as upward or backward. In Babylonian astronomy, the constellation was listed in the MUL.APIN as GU4.AN.NA, "The Bull of Heaven". Beta is a white, spectral class B7 III giant star known as El Nath, which comes from the Arabic phrase "the butting", as in butting by the horns of the bull. Some recommendations in view of the observations of stars are given. [10] Between 18 and 29 October, both the Northern Taurids and the Southern Taurids are active; though the latter stream is stronger. [54], Taurus became an important object of worship among the Druids. Its name means “bull” in Latin. A number of features exist that are of interest to astronomers. This star undergoes erratic changes in luminosity, varying between magnitude 9 to 13 over a period of weeks or months. Taurus is a large and prominent constellation in the northern hemisphere's winter sky. sped past the Earth. Many years ago, people liked to make up stories about the constellations. Every 3.953 days the system temporarily decreases in brightness by 1.1 magnitudes as the brighter star is partially eclipsed by the dimmer companion. [36] At a distance of 490 light-years (150 parsecs), this is one of the nearest active star forming regions. This circle across the celestial sphere forms the apparent path of the Sun as the Earth completes its annual orbit. Taurus … [18] In this profile, Aldebaran forms the bull's bloodshot eye, which has been described as "glaring menacingly at the hunter Orion",[19] a constellation that lies just to the southwest. In 1864, English astronomer William Huggins used the spectrum of this nebula to deduce that the nebula is a luminous gas, rather than stars. (TWAN, for hosting two bright star clusters -- The comet was near its brightest as it This planetary nebula is of historical interest following its discovery by German-born English astronomer William Herschel in 1790. The constellation boundaries are those established by the International Astronomical Union in 1930. [25], In the northern part of the constellation to the northwest of the Pleiades lies the Crystal Ball Nebula, known by its catalogue designation of NGC 1514. In the northwest part of Taurus is the supernova remnant Messier 1, more commonly known as the Crab Nebula. Astrophysical Observatory. Aldebaran is the brightest star in Taurus and the 15th Hyades, visible on the left. A second Greek myth portrays Taurus as Io, a mistress of Zeus. [56] Buddha's birthday is celebrated with the Wesak Festival, or Vesākha, which occurs on the first or second full moon when the Sun is in Taurus. constellation Taurus is always well known At its peak, the supernova reached magnitude −4, but the nebula is currently magnitude 8.4 and requires a telescope to observe. For the astrological sign, see, Taurus as depicted in the astronomical treatise, The 41 additional constellations added in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, sfn error: no target: CITEREFChartrand1993 (, "Secondaries of eclipsing binaries. This set of star maps was created by plotting the position, brightness, and color of 1.7 billion stars from the Hipparcos-2, Tycho-2, and Gaia Data Release 2 star catalogs, with help from the Yale Bright Star Catalog, UCAC3, and the XHIP Hipparcos cross-reference. This was an unusual night to look in the direction of the Bull. [57], As of 2008[update], the Sun appears in the constellation Taurus from May 13 to June 21. This outline is created by prominent members of the Hyades,[17] the nearest distinct open star cluster after the Ursa Major Moving Group. [37] Located in this region, about 10° to the northeast of Aldebaran, is an asterism NGC 1746 spanning a width of 45 arcminutes.