Taurus, the bull, is our focus this week. One of the oldest constellations to be recognised in its modern form, it was recorded as the bull of heaven in Babylonian records from about 1000BC, but cave drawings from Lascaux, France, suggest that humans may already have associated the stars with a bull approximately 14,000 years earlier.
Taurus sits on the ecliptic, the path that the Sun follows around the sky throughout the year, so it is known as a zodiacal constellation. The brightest star in the constellation is the red giant star Aldebaran. In Arabic, its name means “eye of the bull”.
The constellation is home to two star clusters, which can be easily seen with the naked eye. The first of these is a V-shaped collection of stars near Aldebaran, which represent the bull’s face. These are known as the Hyades star cluster. The second lies about the bull’s shoulder. It is the Pleiades, or seven sisters, with Alcyone being the brightest member.
The charts shows the view looking south to south-east from London at 20.00 GMT this week. Being a zodiacal constellation, Taurus is also easily seen from the southern hemisphere.
