Taurus is one of the constellations of the zodiac. Its name is Latin for bull, and its symbol is (), a stylized bull's head. Taurus is a large and prominent constellation in the northern hemisphere's winter sky, between Aries to the west and Gemini to the east; to the north lie Perseus and Auriga, to the southeast Orion, to the south Eridanus, and to the southwest Cetus.

Notable features

The brightest member of this constellation is Aldebaran, an orange-hued, spectral class K5 III
giant star named after the Arabic phrase
for "the Follower". Forming the profile of a Bull's face is a V or A-shaped asterism of stars. This outline is created by prominent members of the Hyades, the nearest distinct open star cluster after the Ursa Major Moving Group.
In this profile, Aldebaran forms the bull's bloodshot
eye, which has been described as "glaring menacingly at the hunter Orion", a constellation that
lies just to the southwest.

In the northeastern quadrant of the Taurus constellation lie the Pleiades, one of the best known open clusters, easily visible to the naked eye. The seven most prominent stars in this cluster are at least visual magnitude six, and so the cluster is also named the "Seven Sisters". However, many more stars are visible with even a modest telescope. The name of the star Aldebaran most likely comes from the fact that it follows the Pleiades during the nightly motion of the celestial sphere across the sky.
To the west, the two horns of the bull are formed by Beta (β) Tauri and Zeta (ζ) Tauri; two star systems that are separated by 8°. 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. It is the second brightest star in the constellation, and shares the border with the neighboring constellation of Auriga. Zeta Tauri is an eclipsing binary star that completes an orbit every 133 days.
A degree to the northwest of ζ Tau is the Crab Nebula (M1), a supernova remnant. This expanding nebula was created by a Type II supernova explosion, which was seen on Earth, July 4, 1054. It was bright enough to be observed during the day, and is mentioned in Chinese historical texts. At its peak the supernova reached magnitude −4, but the nebula is currently magnitude 8.4 and requires a telescope to observe.

The star Lambda (λ) Tauri is an eclipsing binary star. This system consists of a spectral class B3 star being orbited by a less massive class A4 star. The plane of their orbit lies almost along the line of sight to the Earth. Every 3.953 days the system decreases in brightness by 1.1 magnitudes as the brighter star is partially eclipsed by the dimmer star. The two stars are separated by only 0.1 astronomical units, so their shapes are modified by tidal interaction. This results in a variation of their net magnitude throughout each orbit.

Located about 1.8° west of Epsilon (ε) Tauri is T Tauri, the prototype of a class of variable stars called T Tauri stars. This star undergoes erratic changes in luminosity, varying between magnitude 9 to 13 over a period of weeks or months. This is a newly formed stellar object
that is just emerging from its envelope of gas and dust, but has not
yet become a main sequence star. The surrounding reflection nebula NGC 1555 is illuminated by T Tauri, and thus is also variable in luminosity.

This constellation includes part of the Taurus-Auriga complex, a star forming region of sparse, filamentary clouds. This spans a diameter of 30 parsecs and contains of material, which is both larger and less massive than the Orion Nebula. At a distance of , this is one of the nearest active star forming regions.

Taurus is best seen in the evening sky from November to March. The Hyades spans about 5° of the sky, so that it can only be viewed in its entirety with binoculars or the unaided eye.

History and mythology

Taurus as depicted in , a set of constellation cards published in London c.1825.

The identification of the constellation of Taurus with a bull is very old, certainly dating to the Chalcolithic, and perhaps even to the Upper Paleolithic. Michael Rappenglück of the University of Munich believes that Taurus is represented in a cave painting at the Hall of the Bulls in the caves at Lascaux (dated to roughly 15,000 BC), which he believes is accompanied by a depiction of the Pleiades. However, his ideas have not been widely accepted.

Taurus marked the point of vernal equinox in the Chalcolithic and the Early Bronze Age (the "Age of Taurus"). The Pleiades were closest to the Sun at vernal equinox around the 23rd century BC. In Babylonian astronomy, the constellation was listed in the MUL.APIN as , "The Heavenly Bull". As this constellation marked the vernal equinox, it was also the first constellation in the Babylonian zodiac and they described it as "The Bull in Front. The Akkadian name was In Shũr. The same iconic representation of the Heavenly Bull was depicted in the Dendera zodiac, an Egyptian bas-relief carving in a ceiling that depicted the celestial hemisphere using a planisphere. In these ancient cultures, the orientation of the horns was portrayed as upward or backward. This differed from the later Greek depiction where the horns pointed forward.

In Greek mythology, Taurus was identified with Zeus, who assumed the form of a magnificent white bull to abduct Europa, a legendary Phoenician princess. The tale informs the names of constellations since it is necessary to traverse the area of sky known as the Sea to reach it. When passing through the Zodiac, it forms the origin of the myth of the Cretan Bull, one of The Twelve Labors of Heracles.

Astrology

, the Sun appears in the constellation Taurus from May 14 to June 19. In tropical astrology, the Sun is considered to be in the sign Taurus from April 20 to May 21, and in sidereal astrology, from May 16 to June 15.