Aldebaran

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Aldebaran is an orange giant star located about 65 light years away in the zodiac constellation of Taurus. With an average apparent magnitude of 0.87 it is the brightest star in the constellation and is one of the brightest stars in the nighttime sky. The name Aldebaran is Arabic (الدبران al-dabarān) and means "the Follower", presumably because it rises near and soon after the Pleiades. Aldebaran is one of the easiest stars to find in the night sky, partly due to its brightness and partly due to its spatial relation to one of the more noticeable asterisms in the sky. If one follows the three stars of Orion's belt from left to right (in the Northern Hemisphere) or right to left (in the Southern), the first bright star found by continuing that line is Aldebaran.[1]

Alpha (α) Taurus, Aldebaran, is a pale rose star marking the right eye of the Bull (the star Ain, or epsilon (ε), marks the left eye). Aldebaran is the Greek Omma Boos, Latin Oculus Tauri, and the early English Bull's Eye. Bull's-eye is what we call "the centre of a target, which usually carries the highest score, and a precise or highly effective achievement.

The great red giant, war-like Aldebaran is one of the Four Royal Stars or Guardians of Heaven, sentinels watching over other stars. It forms one of the four royal stars of Persia as Watcher of the East. The Four Royal Stars also called Archangel Stars are; Aldebaran (Michael), Regulus (Raphael), Antares (Uriel), and Fomalhaut (Gabriel). They are the brightest stars in their constellations and are considered the four guardians of the heavens. They mark seasonal changes of the year at the equinoxes and solstices. Aldebaran watches the Eastern sky and is the dominant star in the Taurus constellation.


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