Tag Archives: Aldebaran

Aldebaran (designated Alpha Tauri) is an orange giant star located about 65 light years from the Sun in the zodiac constellation of Taurus. It is the brightest star in its constellation and usually the fourteenth-brightest star in the nighttime sky. Pioneer 10 is currently heading in the general direction of the star and should make its closest approach in about two million years. Aldebaran has a diameter of about 61 million kilometers (43.88 times that of Sun).

Aldebaran vs Sun size comparison
Aldebaran vs Sun size comparison

Aldebaran in the Earth sky

How to find Aldebaran in the sky? In the late autumn, look to the eastern sky. Find Auriga, and draw an imaginary line following the line between two stars in the bottom. You’ll see a bright orange star, it is Aldebaran. For the Northern Hemisphere, the presence of Capella and Aldebaran in the eastern evening sky signals that autumn is here and waning toward the winter season. They will climb upward throughout the evening hours, to reach their high point for the night an hour or two past the midnight hour. Auriga is one of the 88 modern constellations; it was among the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy. Located north of the celestial equator, its name is the Latin word for “charioteer”, associating it with various mythological charioteers, including Erichthonius and Myrtilus. Auriga is most prominent during winter evenings in the Northern Hemisphere, along with the five other constellations that have stars in the Winter Hexagon asterism. Because of its northern declination, Auriga is only visible in its entirety as far as 34° south; for observers farther south it lies partially or fully below the horizon. A large constellation, with an area of 657 square degrees, it is half the size of the largest constellation, Hydra. Its brightest star, Capella, is an unusual multiple star system among the brightest stars in the night sky, the sixth-brightest in the night sky and the third-brightest in the northern celestial hemisphere, after Arcturus and Vega. Pleiades or Seven Sisters (Messier 45 or M45), is an open star cluster containing middle-aged, hot B-type stars located in the constellation of Taurus. It is among the nearest star clusters to Earth and is the cluster most obvious to the naked eye in the night sky.

Aldebaran in the Earth sky

Watch: what other stars would look like in the place of the Sun

The Sun is the primary source of energy for Earth’s climate system, and the life on Earth. With a diameter of about 1.39 million kilometers (864,337 miles, i.e. 109 times that of Earth), and a mass about 1.9885×1030 kg (330,000 times that of Earth, accounting for about 99.86% of the total mass of the Solar System), it may be the biggest thing in this neighborhood, but it is actually just a medium-sized star among the hundreds of billions of stars in the Milky Way galaxy. In the video published by the CAMENGAT creative astronomy below, you can see some dwarf stars and other giants compared to the Sun at the edge of its sphere: at 150 million kilometers (1 AUNotes 1) with a 50 mm objective. The stars are the Sun, Alpha Centauri A, Sirius, Vega, Pollux, Arcturus, Aldebaran, Rigel, Antares, and Betelgeuse. The scenario: Astronomical Observatory of Paranal, Chile.

Continue reading Watch: what other stars would look like in the place of the Sun



