Taurus Constellation

Taurus the Bull is one of the most recognizable constellations of winter, a wedge of stars charging across the sky with the fiery orange star Aldebaran glaring like an angry eye. In Greek mythology it represents Zeus in disguise, who transformed himself into a beautiful white bull to lure and carry off Princess Europa. Taurus is easy to find and even easier to fall for: it hosts two of the sky's most beloved star clusters, the Pleiades and the Hyades, both visible without any equipment on a clear night.

Taurus at a Glance

• AbbreviationTau
• Genitive FormTauri
• MeaningThe Bull
• Constellation FamilyZodiac
• Area797 sq. degrees (17th largest of 88)
• Right Ascension3h 24m – 5h 53m
• Declination0° to +31°
• Brightest StarAldebaran (magnitude 0.85)
• Best Evening ViewingJanuary, visible 90°N to 65°S
• Sun's Actual TransitMay 13 – June 21 (astrology: April 20 – May 20)

Mythology and History

The bull is one of the oldest images in the sky, appearing in cave art and Bronze Age skylore long before Greek myth attached itself to the stars. In the version that survives today, Zeus took the shape of a magnificent white bull to approach Europa, a Phoenician princess, and once she climbed onto his back in play he carried her across the sea to Crete. Only the front half of the bull is traditionally depicted, as if rising from the waves. Taurus was one of the 48 constellations described by Ptolemy in the 2nd century AD, and its stars have marked the changing seasons for millennia — the heliacal rising of the Pleiades once signaled planting and harvest times across many ancient cultures.

Notable Stars in Taurus

Aldebaran, a red giant about 65 light-years from Earth, blazes at magnitude 0.85 and marks the bull's eye; despite appearing to sit among the Hyades cluster, it is actually much closer to us and only lies along the same line of sight. Elnath, a blue-white giant at the tip of one horn, is bright enough that it was once counted as part of neighboring Auriga before constellation boundaries were formally fixed in the 20th century.

Deep-Sky Objects

Taurus is a showcase for naked-eye and binocular observing. The Pleiades (M45), often called the Seven Sisters, is a compact cluster of young, hot blue stars wrapped in wisps of reflection nebula, easily visible to the unaided eye. The Hyades form the V-shaped face of the bull and are, at roughly 150 light-years away, one of the nearest open clusters to Earth. Near the bull's southern horn lies the Crab Nebula (M1), the debris field of a supernova explosion witnessed and recorded by astronomers in 1054 AD — the first object catalogued by Charles Messier and now known to conceal a pulsar spinning roughly 30 times per second.

• Pleiades (M45) — the Seven Sisters, one of the closest and most famous open star clusters to Earth, easily visible to the naked eye as a tight knot of blue-white stars
• Hyades — a V-shaped open cluster forming the bull's face, among the nearest star clusters to our solar system at roughly 150 light-years
• Crab Nebula (M1) — the expanding wreckage of a supernova recorded by Chinese and Arab astronomers in 1054 AD, now known to harbor a rapidly spinning neutron star, the Crab Pulsar

Neighboring Constellations and How to Find It

Taurus dominates the winter evening sky, sitting between Aries and Gemini and just northwest of Orion. The easiest way to find it is to look for the Pleiades cluster, a small, unmistakable smudge of stars, then follow the V of the Hyades toward orange Aldebaran. It reaches its highest point around January, and is visible from nearly every inhabited latitude on Earth. Taurus borders Aries, Perseus, Auriga, Gemini, Orion, Eridanus, and Cetus.

Taurus is also associated with the Taurids and Beta Taurids meteor showers, visible to observers who track where these annual displays radiate from.